


Impulse

by sexystylinson



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Abuse, Anal Plugs, Anal Sex, Biting, Body Worship, Bottom Louis, Cigarettes, Controlling Edward, Death, Dubious Consent, Explicit Language, Explicit Sexual Content, Fingering, Fluff, Harm, Innocent Louis, Insane Harry, M/M, Mental Health Issues, Protective Edward, Protective Harry, Rough Sex, Sassy Louis, Sex, Sextoys, Smut, Top Edward, Top Harry, ass eating, bit mark, blond edward, brown hair harry, cabin in the woods, controlling Harry, cutting but not selfharm, insane, murders, not a/b/o, sharp teeth, ss98
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-04
Updated: 2019-12-14
Packaged: 2020-11-23 21:42:33
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 51
Words: 266,055
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20896553
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sexystylinson/pseuds/sexystylinson
Summary: written by ss98Edward and harry styles are twin brothers with sinister intent  and too dark eyes . Louis has a strong head on his shoulders and thats just what the twins like. with louis as the intern as a psychology student for the asylum the twins take resident in after being found in connection to multiple of murdersall credit for this fanfic goes to ss98 and yes im allowed to share it





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> this amazing fanfic was written by ss98 and i was told it was fine to repost

_You wake up in the dark and hear the screaming of the lambs._

**NARRATOR'S POV**

Middleston had two landmarks that the rest of the continent was void of. An abandoned amusement  
park from the 1800's that still stood, rusty and dingy with a few caretakers to ensure its survival.  
Second, a run-down but still fully functioning asylum called The Madhouse informally by the  
townies who saw it erected sixty-eight years ago.

The weather in Middleston was as bipolar as some of the loonies within in. Today is hot, insanely  
humid with perspiration on every resident's body and allergies in overdrive. Yesterday was the host  
of a major storm which made the damp, heavy conditions of today that more irritating.

Louis' no different from everyone else in the respect that he'd very much appreciate the opportunity  
to stay indoors with a sweater and shorts on, moving from room to room in his apartment with a  
bowl of soggy cereal and sweet milk.

Unfortunately for him, today is his final day at the asylum mentioned above. He's the assistant to  
their in-house psychologist while he completes his degree in psychology.

Today is said to be the day he meets the only patients worth meeting. Brothers with a temper, one  
can sense that he's very excited through his early prep of questioning sheets and outfit planning.  
He's pretty sure none of those matter.

"Do you think they've really recovered?" His ultimate best friend had spent the night to help him get  
ready this morning.

Louis knows Niall just wanted free food and a place to crash because his motel reservation expired  
when his gambling money did.

"Not sure." Louis shrugs, walking from the bathroom door to his closet with a towel on. "I've never  
seen them and one can only assume such things with physical contact."

"_Physical contact_." Niall cackles, dropping to his back on the bed. "Well don't go in there  
with your guns blazing. They're rapists, you know."

"No they're not." Louis slips the arms of his navy sweater on. "They're alleged murderers.  
_Alleged_."

"Alright, lover boy. You're going to be late." Niall gets a towel to the face for the nickname. "Can I  
hang around here while-"

"Yes."

"Because-"

Louis sighs heavily, snatching his satchel and other necessities at the door. "Because you travelled  
with me from London and your current broke-ass state is my fault. Eat my food and sleep in my bed  
to comfort yourself, jerk."

"I love you too!"

Driving in this weather is getting Louis. It's at least twenty minutes of open road with gigantic trees  
on either side creeping onto the tar until he gets to the wrought iron gates of The Madhouse. His  
Audi finds its usual parking space at the entrance to the institution with nuns and fake nuns making  
their way around the grounds.

A few greet him and he smiles tightly at them, the fake nuns at least. He respects the old and cruel  
women because they respect their vows, unlike most of the young ones who lift their dresses for the  
first pretty face they see.

"Good morning, Lou." Eleanor, the secretary in the admin division of this establishment, greets him  
with a red-lipped smile and cup of coffee.

He hums and makes his way to the cubicles that hold files for their tasks due by the end of the day.  
There was the case of Perrie the Landscaper, who had a fetish for splashing blood across walls after  
a kill. Then came his final meeting with John the librarian who used to cut human appendages and  
stick them in books.

His third and final assignment was The Styles brothers. Their file was black and sealed with a  
sticker.

Eleanor whistled. "You got the black one, didn't you?"

Louis doesn't look up from the untouched folder but frowns. "I asked for it."

"Brave soul, you are." She laughs, sticking the clip of her pen in her shirt. "It's their last week here  
too."

He knows this. Edward and Harry Styles have been the Madhouse for five years since their twentyfirst birthday. They were sentenced to the therapy program here after a judge ruled against them.

"How was your weekend?" Louis decides to change the subject and looks up with a small smile.

It.....was five days ago." She says, confused by his question. It was Friday and the weekend hasn't  
started.

"Have a good one." He dismisses himself and hurries along the hallways to the office where a stamp  
on Dr. Murs' office stopped him.

"Louis!" A voice shouted after him while he jiggled the keys in the stubborn lock. He hated that Dr.  
Murs never got to deal with a stupid, rusty lock everyday because _he_ had to.

Louis sighs and tries not to look too deflated. It's too bad that Nick Grimshaw annoyed him to high  
Hell. He used to be a patient here, treating his OCD, and now worked as a nurse and resident fuckboy for the bigger patients.

"Hey, Nick." Louis finally gets the door open. He chews his lip and gets a bleeding spot by the time  
Nick nervously approaches him. 

"Hi, Lou."

Louis has told him an innumerable amount of times not to call him that. "What's up?"

"I heard it's your last day." The taller but definitely lesser intimidating individual smiled at him.

"Yes."

"I want to ask you something then." Nick steels himself. Louis can literally see the wheels in his  
head turning as a sentence is constructed carefully.

"Is this about your offer to take me to the town fair?"

"Maybe." Nick's smirk is not enough to impress Louis' unjustifiable high standards.

"Nick, you know dating is not allowed amongst colleagues."

Nick deflates and mumbles something to himself, his fingers twitching the way they would when  
someone put _Stephanie Meyer_ after _Stephen King_. He was going to split the pad of  
his thumb open with his nail if he didn't stop.

"Hey." Louis snapped his fingers and got Nick's attention away from his harmful twitching. "How  
about we start with coffee instead? I'm not really big on fairs."

It was a lie. Louis' loved fairs and circuses for as long he can remember. Every thrill ride, dunking  
game and stick of candy floss has his name on it.

Nick lights up the way Niall does when he finds Brandy with a hundred bucks taped on it under a  
Christmas tree. "Thank you, Lou! Coffee sounds perfect, better than my idea actually. When are you  
free?"

The sooner Louis gets this done, the better. He doesn't want to give Nick any false hope.  
"Tomorrow at eight."

"Done." Nick extracts his little journal from his back pocket and jots down the date, time and the  
fact that Louis will be there. "Thanks again, Lou."

"No problem." Louis gives him a candy sweet smile and hides in Dr. Murs' office for ten minutes  
before actually starting work.

There's a rat that lives in the air vents and it looks like today it has chosen Louis' section to scurry  
about. He sighs and seats himself at his own desk with his belongings after flipping on the lights  
and his boss's computer. He has a laptop to work with and opens up his calendar to look at what he  
has due.

His meeting with Perrie is first in an hour, so he gets her file out and studies it but the black folder is  
glaring at him. He can't stick the temptation it presents and drops Perrie's file to rip open the seal on  
the Styles' brothers' profile.

No intern has lasted long enough to see their last day here and meet the infamous brothers, so the  
only reports in here were from Dr. Murs. Louis' excited to be the last person who writes in their file.  
He skims over the basic information and memorises the bigger, more gruelling details. When the  
words become blurred he slips on his glasses.

Their names were Edward and Harry Styles, admitted in February of the year 2010. Declared  
criminally insane on the same day by the court and the only person allowed to see them was their  
psychologist. No marriage, no children, no lovers. They had no next of kin or guardians, nobody to  
pick them up on their last day.

The brothers, despite their reputation, have remained squeaky clean throughout their stay. Their  
meetings with Dr. Murs were without problems and they always changed the subject when their  
crimes were brought up. _How's your daughter, Olly?_ or _I saw your better half drop your  
lunch off the other day._

Louis goes through the crime scene photos and finds that they're just images of rooms after it was  
cleaned up and returned to their natural state. There was no hardcore evidence against the Styles  
brothers in a small town like this, so an investigation when stale after a while.

He had spoken to some of the people involved in their cases, but most would walk away or hiss at  
him. The crazy ones, mostly. Someone told him they were sons of Satan and someone else says the  
devil lives inside them, cut in two by the twin factor. To small children they're the monsters in your  
closet and under your bed.

A knock on his door throws him out of his train of thought and he frowns behind his framed glasses.  
"Come."

The door swings open a little more brutally than necessary and makes Louis shoot to his feet, the  
chill of cold concrete connecting with his feet through his socks.

"Lou!" His favourite patient here screeches and lunges at him, wrapping her arms around his waist  
and hugging his soft tummy.

"Hey there, Shelly." He grins down at her, squeezing her shoulders and combing her blonde hair  
back. "Had breakfast?"

"Yeah, Lou."

Shelly is a nineteen year old college drop-out who was declared insane after she attacked someone  
in the hallway of her campus. Louis later learnt that she was autistic and fell forward onto some  
idiot's back who didn't help but hit her instead.

"What did you eat?" He puts the Styles brothers' file away and sits down, she sitting opposite him  
curled up in her white dress.

"Oatmeal." She pouts, fingering the hem of her stained cotton dress. "Th-They said....you we-ere  
leaving?"

Louis squashes his self-hatred and tries to smile. "I have to, love."

"No!" She shouts, worked up and betrayed. "You're my best friend-"

"I'll visit everyday." He promises, getting up to hug her so she didn't trash anything. "I promise I'll  
come see you everyday."

"For breakfast?"

"Maybe supper, just before you go to bed."

He spends the next hour not doing the work he has to but assuring Shelly that he isn't leaving her  
forever, much like everyone else in her life has. He gives her a lollipop from his bag and she kisses  
his cheek before leaving upon the arrival of Dr. Murs.

"Good morning, Shelly." The older doctor greets her but she merely waves and skips back outside  
to her room. "Mornin', Louis."

"Morning." Louis gets up and washes himself off in the little bathroom he uses exclusively. "I'm  
going to see Perrie."

Dr. Murs gives him the okay and Louis ducks out of the office quickly, locking up his phone and the  
other files in a cupboard at his desk. He jogs down the clean hallway with cracked floors and  
crumbling walls to where his meeting room with patients are and opens the door.

"Morning, Perrie." He takes a seat in the room that smells of dust and blood, by a steel table that's  
got crusted red on the edges.

Just yesterday they had an incident with a late patient who went crazy in front of Dr. Murs and  
ended up throwing himself all over the room. He cracked his neck on the desk and fell onto the  
rusty spoke from one of the broken legs.

She looks up, purple hair pulled back into a braid and her extremely short fingernails scraping her  
knees again. "Yeah."

"What's wrong?" He asks immediately, folding one leg under the other.

"You're going to die." She looks at him stormily, her shoulders squaring and eyes clouding over.

"Why do you say-"

"You're seeing them today, aren't you?" She cuts across his question. "You're going to die."

"I'm not going to die, Perrie. When I do though, it won't be here." He tells her with his laced fingers  
gripping his pen. "How did you find out?"

"Everybody knows, even them." She laughs so her chest vibrates, bra-less and cold. "The blond one  
is already writing your name on his dick."

"Blond?" Louis tries not to gag on the last bit. He had no idea one was blond.

"You've never seen them, have you?" She smirks, sickening and like when she used to attack  
unsuspecting park couples. "Fuckin' exciting, this is."

Louis spends the next half an hour trying to get Perrie to talk about herself and her recovery but it's  
futile. The same goes for his meeting with John. Everyone is in dire need of the entertainment that  
is bound to come with the Styles' brothers meeting Louis. 

After two useless meetings, Louis closes up the files he's done with and sits in his office through his  
lunch break sorting out paperwork. He eats an apple and drinks from the straw of a juice box. He  
reads over his questions for the notorious twins and rereads it like they're inadequate. The sad thing  
is that the black folder contains no photographs of the twins themselves so he doesn't know what  
they look like.

One o'clock comes around half an hour after Louis starts becoming nervous. He's not always like  
this for first meetings but he's been quite built up to this moment and hates everyone for doing that  
to him.

"Hey, Louis." Dr. Murs calls him from his desk behind the wall to the left of Louis.

He gets up and stands at his doorway. "Yes?"

"My wife found out it was your last day." The doctor stands up and pulls out a lunch bag from under  
his desk. "She thought you'd appreciate her peach crumble as a farewell gift."

Louis met Dr. Murs' wife and he took a liking to her desserts, so he forgets his nerves when he sees  
the offering. Smiling gratefully, he accepts it and laughs lightly. "I'm not moving away, Dr. Murs."

"You try telling her that." He gets up and chews his lip while Louis packs his things away to prepare  
for his absence from the office. "Good luck then."

"Thanks." And Louis' gone.

It's like everyone knows where he's going when he crosses the passage again for the hundredth time.  
The atmosphere has slowed down and everyone watches him like _he's_ insane. He shrugs  
them off and gets to the room he's been assigned for meetings, finds two guards posted outside and  
halts.

"What's this?" He questions them.

"It's our job, Psych." One of them says, Bill or something. "For the criminally insane, especially  
these guys, we need to be here for your safety."

Wonderful. Louis cracks the knuckles in his right hand and grabs the door handle. He waits for his  
life to flash before his eyes but nothing of the kind occurs and he's suddenly in a room with two  
sinister other people.

One is at the barred window looking out with his back to Louis. The blond one. He's not doing  
much else besides looking outside and Louis mentally records that. His arms are at his side, muscles  
bulging under the thin cotton shirt they're forced to wear here. He stands at maybe six foot  
something with slightly hunched shoulders and neat pale hair.

Louis realises there's supposed to be _two_ Styles brothers in just about enough time for a set  
of large hands to close around his hips and keep him from stepping forward.

"Boo."


	2. Chapter Two

**"Boo."**

Louis' automatic reaction - as is the nature of any human who is caught by an unknown person with  
force - is to push free of this muscle cage. He's nowhere near the amassed amount of strength  
needed to break free and ends up fussing in futility. His chest cavity tightens with horrid fear  
clogging his trachea and his fingernails are close to tearing holes through the fabric of his own  
sweater.

"Get off!" He squirms and tries twisting himself out of the second brother's hold desperately.

Suddenly the arms are gone and he's falling to the ground in a tumble. His skull is almost beat open  
with a severe impact with the concrete but his hands brace his fall so he ends up with mere scrapes  
on his palms. His fringe gets in his eye and he sputters a bit from the lump in his throat finally  
releasing him.

The laughter doesn't ease up though. Two deep voices are contributing to the same hoard of  
amusement and Louis feels his resolve get a little hotter.

"What kind of game was that?!" He stands up quickly, dusts off his knees where he's certain there  
are painful scrapes.

His form was shorter but is anger made him noticeable enough. One of the brothers pauses in his  
cackling - the one who captured Louis with dark brown hair - but his amusement stayed  
predominantly on his face.

"The world is uptight enough, darlin'." He says, voice like warm honey with the hidden threat of  
rose bush thorns when you drank it in. "We've been looking forward to meeting you."

Finally the blond one moves away from the window with a smirk hailing from the seventh pit of  
Hell that made Louis' tummy swoop. He sits in one of the two chairs opposite a single one,  
drumming his short fingernails on the steel table patiently.

"What were you hoping to achieve by scaring me?" Louis is certain he's red in the face, not as a  
result of the two sets of deep green eyes staring at him or the flexing of artful jaws beneath pale  
skin.

"One of two things." The darker haired one sits as well except he takes the seat Louis is supposed to  
have, leaving the only available chair next to his deranged brother. 

Louis sucks in a sharp breath and steels himself. He will _not_ be intimidated. "One of those  
two things has to be an extra week in this Hell because that's exactly what you're getting."

The blond one - Louis really has to learn who's who amongst them - smirks with the exposure of  
two alarmingly sharp teeth. Louis now feels the shiver he neglected to experience with Nick.  
"I like him." He says, steeped in humourless appraisal.

Brother Dark Hair - nicknames Grizzly in Louis' head - regards Brother Blond - nicknamed Stark in  
Louis' head - with a little surprise. Stark says nothing to his brother but that seems to be exactly  
what Grizzly is expecting. Louis decides this meeting is over.

"I'll file your paperwork then. Have a nice day."

He never should have turned his back on two crazy people _in an asylum_.

The realisation strikes him the same time as the wall collides with his back harshly. He hisses and  
surely heard a crack of knuckles somewhere above the blood thumping in his brain. His struggle is  
made silly by Stark's abrupt appearance.

All the light is blocked out by the taller man's shadow, looming over Louis like a formidable tower.  
He takes Louis' wrists and pins them to the wall behind his back, creating a painful surge of energy  
through his veins. Louis opens his mouth to scream and a hand closes over his mouth, crushing that  
hope.

Stark stares into Louis' wide and terrified eyes like he's playing a mental game with the smaller  
male. "I'll have to give you something to remember us by for this extra week then, huh darlin'?"

His voice had a strange lisp to it and only when Louis started paying attention to the movement of  
his lips did he understand why. The cherry plumpness of Stark's lips shifted when he spoke but only  
minutely, and only so was Louis able to see that all his teeth were filed to a sharp tip.

Louis' fear engulfed him and he tried screaming again but Stark made a ticking sound with his  
tongue and pressed himself up against Louis' rapidly shuddering body.

"You have a-" His ocean of dark emerald eyes raked down Louis' body. "-tantalising little body,  
petal. I bet you're as soft as silk under all these clothes."

Just like the shiver from Stark's smile that Louis failed to experience earlier in the day, his life now  
flashed before his eyes like he thought it would when he walked in here.

"If I'm right-" Louis' shriek was muffled when he felt a cold, calloused pair of hands rub his sides.  
"-I'll leave a mark that I can claim a week from now. If I'm wrong....-" Stark smiles at the glistening  
tears at the corners of Louis' eyes. "Well petal, if I'm wrong we'll just have to make the most of what  
we have here."

Grizzly did the feeling up of Louis' delicate body. Louis has never felt so humiliated or violated  
even though none of his clothes were removed. He turned his head away when Stark's lips brushed  
his cheek, the dagger characteristic of his teeth scraping Louis' skin.

His heart was jackrabbiting in his narrow chest cavity, the childhood allergies he had closes up his  
air pipes so he can't breathe without sounding like a nail scraping a chalkboard. The fear is that  
powerful, that much more _electric_ when it's all you can feel. 

Something about the flesh of Louis' hips caught Grizzly's attention because he grunted and took  
Stark's hand to the spot as well. Louis felt absolutely disgusted by the greasy palms squeezing the  
part of him with faint stretch marks and otherwise unveiled soft skin.

He mewled helplessly and got gripped tighter when he tried to break free.

"Guess I was right, darlin'. _Look at me!_" Stark's hips hurt Louis' pelvic region with the  
painful amount of strength he used to keep the boy pinned up. His fingers brushed Louis' hair aside,  
caressed his cheekbone and thumbed at his clavicle. "The most glorious body belongs to someone  
right under my nose."

Grizzly whispers something that's hardly English to his brother, neither of them looking away from  
Louis while they communicate. Stark's horrifying teeth come into clear view when he smiles and  
his brother frowns.

"Don't get greedy, Harry." Stark warns Grizzly. Louis hardly finds the name revealing to be easing  
on his nerves. "We've got to wait a week before darlin' here sees us again."

Harry continues whispering, this time louder and more urgent like he's personally afraid of losing an  
opportunity here. Edward - Louis can deduce that Stark is Edward - snaps at his brother for not  
listening the first time.

"I believe he's too impatient." Edward steps back, taking Louis with him so the boy is practically  
being dragged. "Sorry, darlin'."

Louis starts to kick up a fit again but once again a whirlwind of strength overcomes him and he is  
back to being helpless. He screams into Edward's fist and God knows how the guards hear fuck all  
of his protests outside. He blames the soundproof foundation and windowless door that will now get  
him raped or murdered by two sadists.

"Hush, sweetheart." Grizzly tells him, seemingly obsessed with Louis' sides as he soothes the  
goosebumps there and chuckles at Louis' squirming.

"Stop it." Edward throws Louis over the table's surface and Harry holds his hands down. "We have  
approximately three minutes before the bastards outside come to check on us. If your screaming  
gets them here earlier, our meeting a week from now will not be pleasant."

Louis gives up hope at that and puts all his faith into the countdown of three minutes. He stays quiet  
behind Edward's hand and his vision becomes frantically blurry from tears. A shadow cloaks over  
him and his skin becomes wet at his neck.

He starts to squirm again when he figures out what Edward's doing. He struggles under the weight  
forcing him into submission, hands scratching at anything he can to get some freedom. Edward is  
undeterred by all the protests and continues to work his mouth on one spot of Louis' neck.  
It's just his lips sucking hard on the sweet-smelling skin, making blood flow faster and more  
heatedly. When he's satisfied by the swelling and crimson red tint of Louis' skin, his teeth dive in on  
the same spot.

He hesitates, tips of his sinfully sharp molars hovering over the bruised skin. "My name's Edward,  
darling. You scream any other name while I do this, and I'll bite harder."

Louis' mouth is released as the hand over it like a forbidding cloud disappears. He forgets about  
how dirty he feels and releases an ear-splitting scream when half a dozen daggers sink past his skin.  
They're small and causing that much more pain. The agony increases drastically when no name  
escapes his lips and Louis chokes on Edward's name as he tries to force it out.

Immediately there's shuffling outside and some shouts from officials. Edward doesn't let up and  
Louis feels the drip of his blood flowing down his neck.

"Well done, darling."

The monstrous man finally let's him go but his presence is not forgotten because as soon as Louis'  
let Edward's biceps go, Harry's are there to cover for him. The throbbing hurt in Louis' neck extends  
towards his heart where acid travels through his veins like lead, and all he can do when Harry leans  
towards him is hold his shoulders.

In quick succession, the door flies open and bangs against the hard stone walls. Louis' head turns in  
that direction but Harry's lips are at his neck, gently grazing the mark his brother left and getting  
blood smeared across his mouth.

"Don't forget about us, petal."

* * * * *

"I swear to fucking Zeus, Louis! You are _not_ going back there!" Niall shouts at the top of his  
lungs while Louis lies across his own sofa, a quilt over his curled up body and a bandage on his  
neck.

A thumping from above ensues, from Louis' neighbour recently disgruntled by Niall's hooliganism.  
Niall yells at them to shut up and sits down next to Louis with a sigh.

"It's not infected, is it?" Niall asks, touching the medical tape gingerly. "Who the fuck knows what  
those people are carrying."

"It's fine, Ni." Louis assures him, as the paramedic had.

Niall makes an effort to get under the heavy quilt with Louis and cuddle his best friend. Louis  
groans and turns over so his back is to Niall, but the Irishman is persistent and spoons him from  
behind anyway. There's a small silence where Louis manages to stop his shivers and feel the cool  
antiseptic on his neck.

"How far out of line would I be to say I think this is a romantic gesture?" Niall breaks that  
wonderful silence to prod at Louis' neck.

"I'd say I will introduce to them on the day of their release." Louis elbows Niall's rib but it's  
harmless because he's too weak for much else.

There's nothing scarier than being caught between two cruel strangers in a room where no one can  
hear you and you won't be helped. Your screams will be drowned out by their laughter and  
eventually you'll become paralysed by their dark, sinister gaze. 

Louis can still feel their eyes, like they're watching him so intently even now that his back burns  
from their stare. He shudders and can't help a tear or two from slipping out. He could have lost his  
dignity today, along with the time left he had in this life of his.

"It's alright now, Lou." Niall holds Louis while he cries and tries to crack some idiotic jokes in the  
process. "You're not going back there. I won't let you."

As wished upon the stars by both best friends, Louis doesn't need to go back to the Madhouse.  
Infact he even avoids the off ramp he usually took to get there for the next three days while he goes  
about his errands.

The first day is the hardest because Louis has to see Nick, deal with the simpleton's inquisition  
about why the police arrived in a swarm and an ambulance was called twelve minutes after Louis  
went into the room with the Styles brothers.

"Where are you going?" Niall asked from behind the kitchen counter, an empty bowl of cereal in  
front of him and a mug of steaming ginger tea in his hands.

"To meet someone." Louis answers briefly as he swings on a sweater and pauses for a beat to hear  
the rustle of wool on the bandage on his neck. He ties a scarf carefully around his neck to conceal it.  
Middleston is a very small town with a population of less than five hundred, where the weather was  
pathetic and small minds bred like rabies. Louis knew a handful of intellectuals in this town and  
that's only because they were here to waste away their retirement days.

Everyone knew about the incident at the Madhouse. The Middleston Daily printed three articles  
from three uninformed, biased journalists in one issue. Louis was either approached by reporters for  
a photo or comment, spat at behind his back because they thought he was an incompetent  
homosexual, or fawned over by extremists who wanted to know how the Styles brothers ever let  
him go.

The walk from his complex to the cafe he is scheduled to meet Nick at is slow and many people  
stop their loud banter to point and murmur. He stares intently at the ground while he walks. The fog  
of an early morning is still lifting and not many kids are out on the streets yet, so Louis can go to his  
destination without being hassled for some treat or the other.

"Lou!" He is greeted by an excited but seemingly concerned ex-colleague as soon as he walks into  
the coffee shop.

Next, Nick is embracing him and Louis winces from a too tight squeeze. He smiles emptily and  
slides onto a stool where his feet dangle off the sides.

"How're you doing?" Nick asks, rubbing his thumbs over his double cappuccino cup.  
A waitress comes to take their food orders for this chilly morning and she avoids all eye contact  
with Louis. He's become a kind of revered outcast - the paradox is not lost on him - because of his  
recent tragedy.

"Bacon, egg and cheddar wrap with Kamikaze Latté." Louis says his order eloquently, as he has  
been for a year now. 

Nick orders some kind of breakfast omelette with creamed mushrooms and Louis just gathers foam  
off the top of his hot beverage with a plastic spoon.

"I'm doing fine." He manages to lie fluently. "How about you, Nick?"

"Okay, I guess. I'm a little worried to be honest." He admits, blooming colour reaching his cheeks.  
"They're in solitary lockdown, aren't they?" Louis refers to the pair of criminals who had him at his  
weakest. "You'll be fine."

"I'm worried _about you_, Lou."

"I'm fine, Nick." Louis picks up his stainless steel fork and begins the process of picking at his food.  
"Thanks for caring."

"If you need anything-"

"I have a best friend for that." Louis snaps rudely, cursing himself mentally when he sees how  
Nick's face falls.

His fingers start to twitch again, the scars on his pale fingers being relived.

"I'm sorry, Nick. I just....-" Louis searches for a way to make this right. "Maybe I do need that visit  
to the fair."

It's a magical transformation the way Nick's smile picks up. A recovering mental patient should not  
be continually shot down when all they deserve is a fair chance. Nick's not that bad of a guy.

"You don't have to, Louis." Nick shoots himself down. He hates promises made on pity.

"I know." Louis makes an effort to smile. "I'm still asking."

Nick and Louis chat about a small circle of topics for another fifty minutes at the breakfast counter.  
They eat savoury croissants and plan a trip to a bookstore downtown tomorrow, while their fair date  
is scheduled in Nick's little brown journal for later in the week.

"I'm gonna go." Louis states softly, getting off his high stool with his coffee travel mug in one hand.  
"I have some stuff to do for uni."

"Oh yeah. Sure, okay. Can I walk you?" Nick got up too, standing a few inches taller than Louis.

"I'm alright. Thanks though."

Louis sips from his travel mug on his walk home from the coffee shop. The fog has lifted to reveal a  
healthy bout of sunshine falling over their cosy town. Every shop was open and children were out  
everywhere, a few smaller ones bumping into Louis in their haste to have fun.

He reaches the apartment complex after six minutes of walking on a pale white pavement. His  
fingers shake a little while he jiggles the keys of his flat, feeling the cold streak of his back. He  
doesn't realise he was running to get away from vulnerability until he fell to the linoleum floor  
inside his home, head in his hands and legs folded. 

His shaking form was wrapped up in Niall's arms after moments of being alone. He babbles about  
never forgetting what they felt like against him, holding him helpless.

"Let's go for a nap, Tommo." Niall helps Louis to his feet and takes him to his bedroom, pulling the  
covers over his best friend so he was comfortable.

Louis got through a two hour nap before waking up feeling less terrified and more unresolved. He  
was not going to let this horror haunt him for the rest of the week until he was once again caught in  
the threshold of two criminally insane dominant males. Society's screwed him over too many  
fucking times so he does what Niall will slaughter him for doing.

"Hey, Eleanor?" Louis holds the phone to his ear while he shuffles through some of his patient files.

"Hey, Lou. How you doin'?" She asks, concerned to a mild degree.

"Fine." He sips from his tea mug. "Patients in solitary get visiting hours, right?"

"Louis-"

"I want to make an appointment."

"For anyone but the Styles brothers, sure."

Louis stops his shuffling and folds his knees up to his chest. "I want to see them, El."

"I don't think that's wise, Lou. Dr. Murs is in charge of patient visitation and he's stressed out about  
losing you as an assistant so-"

"Is he in today?"

"Well, yeah."

"Put me through to him." Louis bites his thumb nail. Niall is going to drown him in ginger tea  
before slaughtering him. "I want to apply for a permanent post."

Louis has to spend a period of thirty minutes convincing Eleanor that he's not reacting out of PTSD.  
He also stares at the same reflection on his faded laptop screen where his neck's bandage was  
visible in epic clarity. He chews his lip while he forces himself to decide that this is _not_ a  
bad idea.

"Louis?" Dr. Murs comes on the line after Eleanor changes a dial on their massively hideous  
switchboard.

"Hey, Dr. Murs." Louis sits forward in his chair at home, pen twitching in his right hand. "I have a  
request. Two, actually."

"Go ahead."

He tells the doctor the lighter of the two propositions. The job offer is easier to swallow and Dr.  
Murs asks a series of questions about whether he's certain this is what he wants. 

"Yes, Sir. I've been an intern there long enough to know all our patients." He assures the worried  
doctor in charge.

His visit request is less desirable and he spends two hours telling Dr. Murs that he is perfectly  
healthy and will agree to security terms. He ends up getting the visit for two o'clock the next day  
and that's an hour before his contract is signed at the Madhouse. As an intern he got no money but  
his salary will be decent, coupled with the allowance his rich CEO dad gave him monthly he will  
manage a decent life here.

"What you doin' up so late, Lou?" Niall walks in from the hallway of bedrooms in boxers and socks.  
Louis decides to keep his latest decision and employment a secret from his best friend until he's sure  
Niall isn't going to drown him in ginger tea before slaughtering him.

"Got some stuff to complete for uni." Louis clicks the button on his pen.

"You've been at it for a century now, Lou. When do you graduate?"

"I have a thesis to write and an exam to ace first, Ni."

Niall hums, plonking down on the couch violently enough for the entire contraption to shift  
backwards. "How was your date this morning?"

Louis stops scribbling notes down from his laptop screen in the dim light of his desk lamp. "It  
wasn't a date."

"Alright then, how'd it go?"

"Fine."

"That's it?"

"Yeah." Louis nods. "We're going to the bookstore tomorrow."

"Very sexy."

"Niall." Louis throws his hands up with a sigh. "Not everything is about dating, you know. He's a  
nice person and-"

"Is he the creepy guy who-"

"Yes but he's not creepy anymore."

Louis is left alone after Niall finishes a plate of Oreos and squeezes his shoulders in a brief hug. He  
falls asleep at the brink of dawn at his desk, pen marks left on his cheek and worry lines from his  
disturbing dreams leaving creases on his forehead. He wakes up to an empty flat and a note stuck to  
his arm from Niall.

_'Your mom called yesterday. Call her back, Lou. - Niall'_

Louis knows exactly why Niall decided to leave a note and not tell him this in person. He hasn't  
spoken to his mother in months, and couldn't stand being around her for years before that when she   
started bringing strange men home. She got custody of Louis in the divorce but he always found  
reason to live with his dad instead.

"Shit." He rubs the palms of his hands on his face and brushes his hair back with shaking fingers.  
The silence of his apartment is begging him to pick up the answering machine and find out what she  
wants from him now. Money? A place to live? Protection from a drug lord? Who knew and he  
planned to turn her down no matter what it was.

Since it was that simple, he got himself up and dialled her number on his handheld. It rings for five  
rounds before someone picks up, enough time for Louis to take three long breaths and circle his  
small table under an antique mirror three times.

"Louis?" Her breathless response annoys Louis to multiple conclusions that whatever she was doing  
isn't something reputable.

"You called yesterday. What did you want?" He gets straight to the point. Any prolonged  
communication with his mother was bound to have a sour ending.

"Son, not everytime I call is because I want something from you."

"Then why call?"

There's some loud rustling, possibly of paper or cheap clothing, before she speaks again.  
"Middleston's town asylum, the Madhouse to its local residents, has seen some riveting news events  
in the past two days. Resident psychology student, Louis Tomlinson, was-"

"Stop it." He's forced to make her end her reading once he gets what she's playing for. "Did you tell  
Dad?"

"No." She immediately quips, voice shaky like that of a heroin addict who has gone a day too long  
without a fix. "I won't if you-"

"I knew it!" He shouts, aggravated and the prickle of tension makes his neck itch. "You always call  
when you need something."

"Lou, son." She begs of him slowly. "This is different, I swear."

Louis holds back any cunning and smartly ruthless comments he has for his mother. He doesn't need  
this negativity right now. "What is it?"

"I'm leaving the state for a new place upstate." She explains, hushed and low-key. "I need a place to  
sleep for two nights."

He's at his end with his mother but if she's moving upstate she's further away from him and his  
father so helping her get there can't be a crime. Plus, her use of 'sleep' instead of 'stay' or 'crash' has  
the ability to tug on the strings of any child's heart.

"Yeah, okay." He nods even though she can't see him. "When are you arriving?"

"Friday." She smiles, breathing an exhale of relief at her son not shunning her entirely. "Thank you,  
Lou."

"I'll pick you up from the train station at ten?"

"Yeah."

"Alright. Bye then."

After slamming his Samsung handheld cordless phone into the wrong slot three times, he finally  
gets it right. Louis releases a frustrated groan and goes to take his shower, hopefully to get his  
thoughts in order before he takes on the day.

He grabs his Radox shower gel that smelt of mint and vanilla, medical aid bag for disinfecting the  
injury on his neck through ver batim of the paramedic's directions. Standing in front of the brightly  
lit bathroom mirror, he peels the tough piece of white bandage off his skin and flinches whenever  
crusted blood stuck to either medium.

The hickie is a brilliant red and if it weren't for the teeth marks, it would have been passed on for an  
overzealous intimacy act. Unfortunately for Louis, when he pressed down on one of the puncture  
marks a rivulet of red rolled down his neck. He watched it soak his shirt and one more fall a little  
further.

In the shower, masked by scented steam blowing up around him and steaming up all reflective  
surfaces, Louis scrubs the mark on his neck. He hopes to get the vindictive traces off it, the awful  
feeling off creeping up his body and the shivers of a monstrous man to disintegrate.

He can see those stormy, broken dark eyes brimming with an irreparable soul staring down at him  
like he was an object of prey. He felt Harry's hands on his hips and the rough glide of inexperienced  
fingers squeezing his flesh.

By the time his shower is complete he's effectively scrubbed off a good percentage of any healing  
scab formation on his neck and turned his skin to a flushed pink shade. He redresses the gauze on  
his neck carefully and as instructed for whenever leaving his home, wraps a cotton bandage all the  
way around his neck like a medical necklace.

In his bedroom he dresses for a cold day out with unappealing jeggings, a loose white long-sleeved  
shirt that met his thighs and black denim jacket. He wore a scarf to hide the bandage party around  
his throat as he was in no mood to deal with enquiries about it.

First was his meeting with Nick at an old bookstore where the owner sang pirate songs and  
preached about the end of the world. He got in his Audi and drove down the streets towards the  
quaint building squashed between a pub and Sunday church.

"You're the kid with the vampire bite, right?" The aged but definitely not senile male owner told  
Louis the second he walked in.

Louis walked away down the nearest isle in the hopes of escaping such an inquisitive and illmannered elderly.  
"Hey!" No such luck for him as the crone followed him past the Religious texts down to Recipe  
books. "I'm talkin' to you, boy."

Growing sick of this man's game, Louis decides to give the townspeople of singular thinking what  
they want. "Yes, I'm the one with the vampire bite."

The older man with a greasy white vest, sauce stains down the front and foul-smelling pair of  
joggers on. He wipes his mouth with the back of his hand and makes a sick nasal sound. "Really?"

"Yeah." Louis knows men like this and takes a step forward to assert the fact that he's not in for this  
bullshit. "Didn't even hurt. Wanna know why they let me live, Arnold?"

The greaser's face falls when he hears his name from the boy he's never met before. He doesn't  
remember that his name tag is stuck on the back of his cash register and Louis took a free wild  
guess that it would actually be his and not an employee. Arnold starts to believe that Louis' actually  
part of some bloodthirsty cult, such blue eyes can't exist on a regular joe.

Arnold moves away immediately after the bell above the door jingles from another customer  
entering. Louis laughs to himself while he browses some titles of faded book spines, at last  
distracted from the horrid feeling welling in his abdomen.

Old Latin music played through the PA system, a taste Louis hasn't been in the presence of for a  
long time. He moves further into the store and pauses by a Criminal History isle that seems to  
disappear into more shelves. His height is his disadvantage as his attempt at taking one book titled

_Middleston's Murder Archive_, he ends up toppling over three other irrelevant novels.  
Arnold gives Louis a very disapproving glance but doesn't have the guts to warn Louis about  
anything. He stays stationed behind his cashier's till with a crucifix nailed up beside the clock on a  
mantle.

"Hey, Lou." Nick pitches up just after Louis manages to reshelf the books he dropped.

Louis glances over his left shoulder, scrunching up his nose when a nauseating feeling jolts up to  
his brain from the mark on his neck. "H-Hi."

"Are you okay?" Nick takes the book from Louis, the one he intends to purchase and immediately  
drops it at the feel of dust. "Ugh."

"I'm fine." Louis picks the object carefully and refrains from holding it against him. "It's not all that  
pleasant to be vertically challenged."

Nick's laughter bounces off the rickety shelving and he follows Louis towards the ancient languages  
section. "Who told you vertically challenged was a term?"

"My high school Math teacher." Louis just notices the basket in Nick's hand, dark purple and  
scraped at the edges. He also notices that Nick is holding the basket with a tissue. "What's with the  
basket?"

"Felt bad not to take one." Nick holds it out for Louis to put _Middleston's Murder Archive_ in  
it. "Lou, can I tell you something?"

His tone of the question is a bit doubtful but Louis' as curious as it gets so he nods and makes sure  
to meet Nick's eyes to convey that he's sure. "Okay."

"I worked the night shift last night." Nick says as a start, a weak one where he bites his lip to keep  
out his need to just stop. "Dr. Murs sent me to the um....solitary unit."

Louis knows immediately where he's going with this. Half of him wants to beg Nick to just stop  
because he already has to face the demons in his life today, but the other half (and maybe a bit  
more) wants to hear what happened after his police statement was given in.

"They asked for you." Nick knows Louis is looking at him but he can't bring himself to return the  
gaze. "Not very nicely either."

"How do you mean?" Louis tries to make himself appear otherwise occupied by thumbing the  
ragged edges of a book about sea monsters.

Nick shakes his head and starts to walk away. It would have stunned someone who didn't know that,  
like the finger twitching, this was another one of Nick's nervous ticks. Louis sighs and jogs after  
him, halting the fleeing individual by stepping in front of him.

"Tell me." Louis demands.

"Uh.....-" Nick scratched the side of his head. "Th-The big one?"

Louis held his breath, eyes searching Nick's in his study of this man's information. "Harry?"

Nick nods vigorously, then slows down until it looks like a badly oiled machine. "He asked for his  
petal and I asked what he meant. That was stupid, I know. I was just curious-"

"It's okay, Nick. I understand." Louis tells him, the word 'petal' reeling madly through his head.

"So um....he said his petal had the best taste in the world and the um- the other one?"

"Edward."

"Edward. He said something in Harry's ear that made him really quiet. Edward told me to tell you  
that he's looking forward to seeing you again."

"How'd you know Harry was talking about me?"

"Who else would they be talking about?"

Louis adds another con to his list of pro's and cons regarding being re-employed at the Madhouse.  
He also doesn't understand what was 'not nice' about the way Harry asked for him, unless Nick was  
leaving something out. In that case, he doesn't really want to know anymore.

He manages to steer their future conversation topics towards things he's comfortable with. Certain  
sports, foods and antiques all make that list. Soon, it's thirty minutes before two and he has to build  
up the nerve to once again step into the Madhouse.

He's not so sure of himself once he's parked outside in his usual spot, gripping the steering wheel of  
his car until his knuckles are page white. Lip bitten raw and thumb nail worked down to a stub,  
Louis gets out into the damp atmosphere. He's a damn psychology student, and he should be able to  
put up a front.

Walking up to Eleanor's desk is not the same. He doesn't go to the white cubicle with his name on it  
and doesn't get to take a mug from the staff lunchroom. He just about manages a wry smile for the  
receptionist who looks at him sympathetically, before making him sign the visitors' form. 

"Dr. Murs wants to see you first." She tells him once the sheet is signed and returned. "In his office,  
please."

Louis holds the lunch bag with Dr. Murs' wife's casserole dish tightly in his left hand, eyes glued to  
the ground so he doesn't step in any undesirable substances as he did in his first week here. He's  
mastered many dissuasion, persuasion and escape skills because of this place.

"Louis? Have a seat." Dr. Murs let's him in and gestures towards a plastic-covered seat in his closed  
office.

He knows what's coming and he'd like to have the first say. "Please don't try to change my mind."  
"Are you afraid I might succeed then?"

Louis scowls at his mentor. "No. I'm sure you, along with every news reporter in town, doesn't  
understand why the Hell I'd go back in there but this is something I need to do."

He's not lying at least. He needs to know why he isn't dead, why he's called _Petal_ and why  
there's only a mark on his neck. If he has to fake a thousand smiles and become a whole new person  
in that meeting to get his answers, so be it.

"You're a strong mind, Louis. That's why I'll okay this." Dr. Murs gets up and slides a dusty brown  
folder towards Louis. "If you feel the same as you feel now when you get out, the job is yours."  
Louis doesn't breathe his sigh of relief too quickly.

"This time there'll be security guards in the room with you." Dr. Murs is walking alongside him  
towards the staircase where they'll travel four floors underground to the solitary compartment.  
"There are cameras and voice recorders already installed. Two guards in and two out, you'll be able  
to see them through the bars."

Well, if he's getting this meeting by bending people's expectations of him, the least he could accept  
is their terms. He's honestly _grateful_ for all this protection. The Styles twins tried something  
before they even knew his last name, now that they've got a good look at him he's horrified to  
imagine what they're capable of.

"Here we are then." Dr. Murs puts his hand on a solid steel door with a clear glass pane through  
which the two guards standing outside can see through. "They're in here. Be careful, Lou."  
Louis gives him a short-lived smile and let's one of the African-American guards unlock the heavy  
latch. He stays close to one of them and can't help closing his eyes to take a deep, shaky breath  
when the lock slides smoothly out of place.

_This is it_, he thinks to his racing mind that's beginning to pulsate with tension. _I'm  
already crazier than the people in here._

Guard Number One walks in ahead of Louis and the blaring fluorescent lights are buzzing  
vengefully above their heads, contributing to Louis' headache. The second guard walks in behind  
Louis and once the one in the front moves aside, he gets to look up at those awaiting him.  
Louis prepares himself for the performance of his life. 

"I missed you, Petal."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The end of chapter Two by ss98


	3. Chapter Three

**Louis prepares himself for the performance of his life.**

**"I missed you, Petal."**

***LOUIS' POV***

Of course the voice hasn't changed and there isn't a party of twenty people admitting they pulled the  
greatest prank ever on me jumping out. It was a sliver of hope anyway. The pet name of sorts sends  
unkind chills racing down my back where sweat has begun to gather and slide down my skin.  
Performance, right.

With the guards taking a stand near the door, I swallow what nervous bile I had outside and look up  
from the floor. The first thing I see is Edward, standing closer than I'd like him to be with a smug  
little smirk tugging the corners of his mouth.

"I missed you too."

My four words manage to get Edward to do a once over, surprise evident in his face. His dark eyes  
lighten with humour but there's still an imminent presence of a defiled, foul shadow lurking behind  
a curtain of mossy green.

Harry's laughter is sudden and _loud_. It frightens me into almost squeaking and just running  
back outside to my car. Even one of the guards clear their through, questioning my mental stability.  
Turns out Harry is seated on the cold floor and gets to his feet after my rather unorthodox and  
unpredicted response.

"You were right, H." Edward kills the space between us by extending it, sauntering off towards a  
table with bolted benches for chairs.

I'm torn between throwing that comment out the window and giving in to the bait. "What was he  
right about?"

I somehow convince myself to sit opposite Edward at the table, my legs crossed and hands on my  
lap to keep from touching anything. Edward studies everything I do and whether or not it's an act, it  
will always be the most unnerving feeling.

"I said you'd come back before we came for you." My decision to sit blown to unsatisfactory  
standards when Harry sits on the same bench I'm on, a tiny space between our thighs.

"How did you guess-"

"You're wearing a scarf." Edward points out with a nudge of his chin in my direction. "Take it off."

I frown. "No."

"It's not cold in here and what you're hiding under it isn't something I haven't seen before." Edward  
leans forward but doesn't touch me. The brush of his warm breath on my cheek makes my skin  
crawl and hairs stand to attention. "Take it _off_, petal."

Ah. There's my objective. "Why do you call me that?"

Harry scoots closer and I shift towards the edge, nearly sending myself over the edge because he  
knows no boundaries.

"You remind me of a petal." Edward simply explains, thickening his cryptic response with a flash of  
his vampiric teeth. "Soft and warm."

I struggle to keep the distasteful glare from bursting onto my features. Feeling a reward coming on  
for Edward since he answered my question, I untie the knot of my scarf and swallow hard enough  
for it to hurt on the way down while I fold the scarf on my knee.

Harry's the first to speak after his examination of the bandage encasing my neck is complete. "It's  
still raw, isn't it? There's no way it healed."

Here goes nothing. "Considering I'm not removing the bandage in here for it to get infected, you'll  
have to wait for the rest of your sentence to find out."

Two beats of silence pass before hoarse laughter breaks out. This time it's not Harry but Edward,  
amusement on full blast as he claps his hands and reveals all his pointed teeth in a haunted grin.  
Harry is staring at me without blinking, his creepy gaze flickering from my neck to my eyes.  
"You've made me very desperate to get out of here, petal." Edward draws my attention back to him  
by not holding back the liquid gold lilt in his voice.

"You've got three days left." I tell him, ignoring a hostile shiver that shoots up my leg when my  
shoe brushes his knee. "Don't do anything stupid."

"You don't sound scared at all, darlin'." Edward observes. "Are we going to meet a naval army  
outside your home when we come to collect you?"

My heart drops to the bowels of my body. A black hole starts to form and slowly my words are  
swallowed up. _Collect me?_

"You are scared." Harry's breath fans my ear and pops my silent bubble of thought.  
Not at all expecting him to be so close and sound so hypnotic, I fall off the bench onto my behind in  
my attempt to get away.

"Hands off, Styles." One of the guards escorts Harry to the other side of the table while I stand up  
shakily.

"You wanna go, Louis?" The officer asks me but I can't rely on my wobbly knees right now and the  
pit in my tummy to not put me on my ass again.

I shake my head and slide back into my warm spot on the bench. Taking a brief moment to recollect  
my thoughts and focus here, I fold one leg under the other and find the bravery to rest my elbows on  
the table. Harry is frowning as if trying to decode something, once again locking gazes with some  
part of me while he does so.

"Kidnapping me would be a crime." I remind Edward's blank stare. "Threatening me in here isn't  
very wise, Edward."

Harry's head snaps towards his brother, gauging every moment of a reaction that passes. He reminds  
me of a cartoon character.

"I never said kidnap, petal." Edward's shoulders straighten and his posture puts him at a taller height  
than me. "You'll come willingly."

My blood runs cold by his eyes boring into mine. We're not even that close but I can feel him  
everywhere, his troubling presence hovering around me.

"I don't think so." I display my amusement with a quick smile, teeth sinking into my lower lip.  
"I do." Edward disagrees, cunning smirk becoming planted on his visage. "I can make you want it."  
I lace my fingers together on the table, ready to say something when he cuts me off.

"You already want it." He doesn't even have the undertones of a cocky, over compensated brat.

"You're worried about us hurting you. I can assure you, petal, that's not what I intend to do to you."  
The use of 'to you' instead of 'with you' throws my game way off and I begin to feel the lingering  
remnants of a faint headache beating to life again. I rub my temples with my fingers and quickly  
come out of it once the ache is lessened.

What was this psychopath getting at? Was he playing a different angle every different day or did he  
just not have his mind made up? His stare never let up once through my process of thinking and  
Harry seems to have solved his internal battle because he's watching me pointedly as well.

Edward takes advantage of my moment of weakness and whispers lowly the secret of his intentions  
to me. "Harry may be wanting more from you, but I solely intend to assert my claim between your  
legs."

My eyes fly open like shutter blinds and I jerk backwards to be as far away from the maniac as  
possible. Unfortunately this just amuses him and he combs his blond quiff back effortlessly without  
a care for the horror he's instilled in me.

"You have nothing to do but wait, petal." Harry doesn't seem to be any nicer to me, despite his  
passive aggression.

I glance at Edward then at his slightly distracted brother. Harry is a little more unbalanced than  
Edward, but if he were normal it would be endearing. There's simply no hope for Edward. Their  
game is far from over and my act is slowly burning up.

"Harry's a jealous one." Edward claps his brother on the back. "We share but I'll have you whenever  
I want."

I'm explicably, undoubtedly nauseous. That game of mine needs to be elevated if there's going to be  
an escape from them. The law doesn't protect you from people like this. A person in distress would   
get up and run but what would that get me? More painstaking moments to wait for these two  
sociopaths to show up at my door.

I could report them and file for a restraining order. Our town is so small I might have to move out  
into the city. There's hardly another option besides playing along and hoping to soften any  
conditions thrown at me. The process is bound to be tedious.

"Harry?" I turn away from Edward to look at his twin, offering him a small smile in the hopes that  
he'll come over to my side.

"Petal." Harry's wrists knock the table when he looks up. I can't help but imagine him outside this  
place, away from his influential brother.

"Don't try to turn my brother against me, petal." Edward cuts off our communication and Harry's  
head drops again. "Harry may slice anyone who touches his things, but he won't say no to the  
person who never left him alone."

This information is new and never heard by any of their previous doctors so Edward realises his  
mistake immediately. His face crumbles before regaining a tight, ungrateful composure. He's said  
something to me he regretted. Maybe I'm not losing after all.

"Your secret's safe with me." I pipe up, fuelled by the upper hand awarded to me by this deep  
revelation.

The door starts to rattle with the forceful shoves of Dr. Murs wanting to check on our progress. My  
time is up. I stand and Edward does too. For a moment I believe he's going to try something but he  
merely burns into the time I spend looking at him, before sitting again.

"See you soon, petal."

* * * * *

***NARRATOR'S POV***

There's a certain degree of insanity in everyone because the balance is important for survival. What  
do you do when you're faced with a wild beast? The threat of your landlord coming to evict you?  
You show a little crazy and you've automatically gotten yourself an extension.

Unfortunately for those who lose control of themselves to the dark side of madness, they never  
return. Some people are easily bribed to the darkness by whatever tricks got them near like a  
fingertip to a thorn. Much like Harry and Edward, there's a very big piece that gets broken when  
they cross that line.

The Styles' obsession with Louis has gotten him far more paranoid than usual. He quadruple checks  
that when he walks, nobody's following him. The horrible bit is, if either brother really wanted to  
follow him they would be and he would be none the wiser.

Against his wishes and please to any diety above, Edward was in no way fucking about with his  
clear-cut lust for whatever Louis withheld from him. The need to possess something outside his  
nasty existence has overruled his nature to lay low. 

"Harry." He nudged his sleeping brother with a harsh blow to his hip.

Harry awoke with a groan and snarl that unfurls even more when he sees who is being assigned to  
hand them food. Edward drops his lips to Harry's ear, eyes on the door as it creaks open. His  
brother's chest is beating like a drum and he can hear it, hear the sensational rhythm of a monster  
waking up as well.

"He touched your petal, H. Are you gonna let him do it again?"

* * * * *

The plan works because the next day, Edward is pleasant surprised by Louis early in the morning.  
His devious execution of the plot to end Nick's existence and have Louis come back to them under  
any circumstance has succeeded.

It's before breakfast and he's already being yelled at by a beautiful face.

"What did you _do_?!" Louis wasn't allowed past the gates in his state, lest he harm himself.  
Edward gets up from his air mattress and pushes Harry off the edge to wake him up as well. The  
latter doesn't do more than sit up and observe the entire scenario unfolding before his war-torn eyes.  
His boxer briefs offer no protection against the cold concrete ground and he leans back against the  
bed post.

"Mornin', petal." Edward approached the bars and stuck his arms through.

Louis jumps back to be out of his reach. "You heartless monster! What did Nick ever do to you?!"

"He did enough." Edward replies to the question coldly, his icy glare set on Louis then the guards at  
the main entrance behind him. "I didn't even touch him, darlin'. Don't fuck with me for something I  
didn't do."

The silence granted to him is enough to give Louis two epiphanies. He looks at Harry with fire  
burning away the patience he had for the psychopath. He also knows exactly how he'll dish out their  
punishment. Nick's cold corpse lay in the morgue ready to burnt because his family won't come to  
claim him.

"You're sick." Louis spat hatefully, bravely stepping forward. "Officer?"

One of the two guards approach Louis from the electronic bolted door. He doesn't look too happy  
about being in such close proximity to the worst patient.

"Louis?" The nameless officer is all ears for what Louis has to instruct.

"Take Harry out." Louis wipes the wetness of his eyes. "Put him in the furthest cell from this one.  
I'll sign off on it."

Now it's Edward's turn to look unhappy. "Fuck, petal. Don't-"

"Do it in the next ten minutes." Louis is walking away from the cell where they're held, ignoring  
Edward's frantic calls and shouts.

"Petal!" He turns red with rage and the thought of having his brother somewhere not where he is  
makes him slam his fist into the metal rods so many times he starts to bleed from a fracture. "You're  
_not_ taking him away!"

Solitary becomes a cage to both brothers and a forbidden territory for Louis. He sits in his office  
while he taps away at his laptop, drawing up the official document that entitles Harry Styles to a  
cell blocks away from his brother, Edward Styles. He feels a little guilty - very little - for separating  
them after a tiny revelation was made to him about their bond.

Thinking about Nick and the gushing blood in a lonely hallway from his neck that's been sliced  
halfway down _to the bone_, his resolve hardens. He finishes the document, emails it to Dr.  
Murs and gets it signed.

"Do you think it will help?" His practising mentor questions the theory of separation providing any  
results.

Louis didn't think so. It could make Edward more hateful and violent, and close Harry off  
completely. "Yes."

* * * * *

After his lunch break, Louis feels completely empty despite eating two bananas and a yogurt. He  
spent the entire duration alone in his small cubicle office, staring at the document he got officiated  
and was chewing on the same chunk of fruit for three minutes.

He thinks of Harry alone in a cell and feels an understandable flare of disgust for the man who  
thought taking a life - and the multiple lives beforehand - was okay. Being almost certain he's made  
a good decision - albeit cruel - isn't enough for Louis so he decides to pull out any files the  
Madhouse has on either Styles sibling to do his research.

The file storage department is two doors away from Louis' station. He makes a quick trip down the  
hallway and spends twenty minutes filing a request to the woman in charge.

On his way back, he passes the closet where Nick first asked him to go to the fair and he turned him  
down. He hugs his middle with clenched fists and forces his weak will not to turn him around so he  
goes to the morgue. He didn't want to remember Nick as a bloody corpse.

"You not going home?" Dr. Murs is on his way out at seven that evening, his worn grey trench coat  
hanging over his arm and briefcase in the other hand.  
\  
"Waiting for Pauline to get back to me on the files I requested." Louis answers truthfully, once again  
folding the corner of his reading interest. "She said ten minutes an hour ago."

Dr. Murs chuckles and tosses his keys over Louis' desk with an athletic throw. "Lock up and be  
gone by nine, okay?"

Louis salutes him as a farewell gesture and let's his smile fall flat with his forehead on his old but  
sturdy desk. He messes up his hair with his fingers and slips on one of his stored hoodies to keep  
out the cold. He's drowning in it and the college logo doesn't appear to be one he knows so it must  
be Niall's.

_Niall._

"Shit!" Louis flaffs around for his phone and curses further when he notices the dozens of  
notifications that have sprung up during his busy day.

He's in the process of dialling his best friend who is probably worried enough about him to be  
breaking something when his door slides across ancient wooden flooring. Good, Pauline's finally  
here.

"I'm beginning to think everyone's clocks don't work." He absentmindedly tells her as he presses the  
call button.

"Mine works just fine, petal."

Louis drops his phone with a loud clatter and his heart seizes up in his chest as he jumps to his feet.  
With a wall at his back he hardly feels secure with his chest constricting like a leather band around  
his organs. Two sets of unnerving, dangerously molten eyes are screwed so tightly on him that his  
throat starts to close up.

"I normally don't allow my victims the luxury of thinking three steps backwards will give them any  
kind of safety." Edward walks into the room, taking centre stage while Harry locks the only door  
leading outside with a latch.

His nails are scratching the dry wall and his head pounds with the arousal of fear within his gut.  
"Don't worry, petal." Edward drums his fingers along the entire length of the table's edge while he  
stalks closer to where Louis cowered. "I don't have anything half as grotesque planned for you."

With seconds ticking by as sweat began to gather at Louis' hairline, he contemplates every option he  
has. He threw the fight or defensive technique out the window when he realised his agility won't  
match their experience. His hands remain folded at his chest and he looks to the right with  
determination when Edward's breath gets close enough, warm enough to irritate the tendons of his  
baby fine hair.

"Now, petal." Edward takes Louis' wrist and drags him over to the table he's deemed solid enough.  
His deceptively alluring gaze pins Louis' as his back meets the table. "If you _hadn't_ done  
what you did, I could have made this experience for pleasurable for you."

Louis' heartbeat picks up tenfold along with his pulse rate. Dreads fills every orifice of his exterior  
shape and the depths of his mind. Back in high school he would have screamed and maybe shed a  
few tears but now he's somewhat mentally equipped. Being through uni with a course on exactly  
how to stay calm has helped him.

"For a reason unknown to me, I favour you above most people I've known for all my life. Harry too,  
don't you brother?" Edward pulls away for a beat of a blink to watch Harry deliver a strangled nod  
with blank but reddened eyes. 

Louis' eyes dart away from where his wrist is being pressurised inhumanely by a strong fist. He  
sends Harry a pleading look but it's in vain from the start because it seems to send the psychopath  
on a hardened path of distaste. Louis' wrong move was asking wordlessly for mercy because Harry  
now felt less obligated to help at all.

Deciding not to keep quiet and helpless with fear lidding his eyes, Louis' voice shakes for the first  
few words he speaks. "Y-You favour me?"

It's the only thing he could bring up again, hopefully delay this process so the primal human instinct  
to survive the terror will kick in. There was a tiny tingle at the base of his spine that was triggered  
by his shameless desire for domination.

Edward looks thrown off by this interruption, by this mention of something he said in a smooth  
flow. Louis heard that so clearly? What did _he_ mean when he said it?

"Don't be flattered easily, darlin'." Edward levels up his approach by pulling Louis' gaze away from  
everything that's not him, his fingers tugging harshly on the boy's chin. "Do you think it's a good  
thing to be a maniac's favourite?"

Louis looks right at him when he answers, challenging the masked threat behind the words thrown  
at him. He even touches Edward's bony wrist over a tattoo that's left a red vein in permanent easy  
sight and his skin slightly swollen. "I think it is."

Suddenly his quaint little office of dust and old shelves is engulfed in deep, gravely laughter. "I  
made the right choice with you, petal."

There's a burst of relief that floods Louis' system. Could it be over? This torture must be over now.  
Where are the guards? How did two cells become unlocked and unarmed suddenly? Louis doesn't  
want to guess.

"You did cause me pain, petal." Edward displays the same hand he brutally hammered into the bars  
of their gates.

Forgetting his mind for a short second, Louis gasps and examines this hand by holding onto it. It's a  
mesmerising moment, his ignorance towards the fact that both brothers are watching him intently  
with expressionless features. Edward growls and retracts his hand, almost knocking Louis off his  
feet with the loss of balance support.

"Don't." He snarls, stepping in Louis' face so their noses are a hair's breath apart and his stare burns  
the embers of Louis'. "I didn't come here for nothing, petal. You're _paying_ for what you did  
today."

Louis' confusion is chopped several levels down when he's spun around to face the desk, then  
pushed down. His cheek presses against the cold wood and he begins his struggle, the fear laced  
with an angry upset returning to his gut. He feels a swelling in his abdomen and it's most likely the  
horrific aftermath that his body is preparing for.

"Stop!" He squirmed against the cool, sharp edges of wood jabbing his middle. "_Please_,  
Edward......-"

His hands are tied behind his back using a tight twine. His wrists _hurt_ from the roughness of  
the rope, the splinters of the fine febrile strokes that scratch his soft skin. The angle causes his back  
discomfort and his front is left bare on the table, legs on the ground and face down.

"Don't scream too loudly." Edward warns as he runs his hands down Louis' body length, stopping at  
his behind when he leans over Louis' back to whisper in his ear. "I don't like being interrupted."

A scream rips through Louis just then when something touches his ear lobe with the intent of biting  
down. Edward's dark chuckle makes him stop to realise it was just his lips and not razor teeth. Louis  
tried to kick Edward off him but the fight was meaningless.

"Please don't do this." Louis' sobs were ugly and choked on as his clothes from the waist down were  
stripped off.

He tried straightening his back but Edward put his hand on the curve - nearly covering the whole  
Cshape with how large his hand is - and forces him back down. Louis' elbows hit the desk and his jaw  
slams into the fine wooden finish.

There's no time to work it over and make sure he hasn't shattered anything because warm but  
unkind hands are cascading like poky rocks down his thighs. He shaves regularly for the sake of  
keeping clean so the contrast would be magical had the circumstances been different.

There's an unpleasant, jolting sting that smacks Louis' left cheek and his groan is strangled into the  
least subtle sob he can manage. His face is red with hatred and agony, tear tracks racing down his  
cheekbones to touch the wooden table. The admiring hum and not gentle caress of his body that  
comes after has him giving up, laying down on the table and squeezing his eyes shut.

"You're not even fighting me, petal." This annoys Edward to no end and he yanks Louis upright by  
his fingers locked in the boy's hair. "There's no fun if there's no struggle."

Louis wants to spit in his face now that it's so close, but he almost swallows his tongue instead  
uttering the next few words. "You'll just take what you want anyway."

Edward's medieval smirk grows into a grin that looks more sadistic than a clown with a bleeding  
knife. There are dents on the sides of this tragic facial conquest and Louis realises that _he has  
dimples._

"Indeed I will, petal." Edward's hand slides under the front of Louis' sweater, his thumb digging into  
the perfect spot to make the boy wriggle against him. "Unfortunately it's not me who will be  
enjoying you tonight."

All of a sudden Edward's let go of him and he would have fallen over had another set of rigid but  
bolder arms not caught him. The stumble ends with Louis against Harry's chest, his eyes connecting  
with the man who slit more throats than there are baby hairs on the back of Louis' nape. He  
struggles against Harry, against the cold tide that swims in his eyes and gets nailed to the desk with  
a harsh blow backwards.

"Don't." Harry's tone is electric and warning.

He pins Louis' hips down and arches his back correctly to step between his legs. His hands secure  
Louis' thighs when the latter tries to kick him away, pressing his nails into the soft flesh until pain is  
certain. Harry locks gazes with Louis until the boy looks away, falling onto his back lifelessly as the  
last hope is drained. 

"You move again and I will continue this on the fucking floor." Harry threatens him.

Louis can't look. He can't see himself being defiled and lose a part of his sanity, his claim on  
innocence. Niall was right, he never should have returned to this place just because he felt the  
undying need for answers. He regrets it all now and hates himself for ever choosing this hard path.  
"Doesn't feel like you've been touched recently." Edward is there again, molesting Louis' body like  
an addict drawn to a loot.

He first touches Louis' thighs, moving slowly North until he just about _grazes_ the pink  
puckered entrance he's targeting. Louis shivers and fresh tears roll down his cheeks. His crotch is  
flat, soft and freezing because of Middleston temperatures.

"We'll give you prep-" Edward moving away, leaving Louis cold vulnerable in sight. "-because  
Harry here deserves the best possible experience. What do you think, petal?"

What? How does he expect Louis to respond to that? He's about to be _raped_ and he isn't the  
least bit concerned about Harry's experience. Louis sucks his lip between his teeth and saves his  
energy for later when he - hopefully survives - will scrub himself clean of this emotional  
destruction.

"He's a virgin." The booming electricity of Edward's voice makes Louis jump. "He won't be that  
rough, petal."

Rough or not, Louis' bound to destroy some stable part of himself in order to go on coping after  
this. He digs his nails into his own palms, hoping he bleeds so some pain is relieved. His eyes screw  
shut until his head roars with pain and someone new steps up behind him.

His mind goes blank.

Completely and utterly empty. Whether it's shock or just his inability to cope with traumatic events,  
but the result is sustained. He can't explain it in the moment because of the obvious lack of any  
vocabulary, but even afterwards he won't be able to explain what this is.

It can't be a thing of submission because Louis' never been someone who easily gives in to any type  
of physical arousal. He stood his ground. What is this then?

He's flipped over with a lack of gentility and his back hits the table hard enough for him to moan.  
The slivers of pain reach his head and he looks everywhere else but at where he's being assaulted.  
His gaze is empty, glassy and mindless.

"Look at me." Harry grunts, adding lyrics to the sound of cotton pants being shed.  
Louis' eyes snap towards him from the ceiling. He stares at the criminal like he's not even there and  
Harry growls at the feeling it gives him. With too much force, Harry hikes Louis' thighs up on his  
hips and gets easy access to his body that way.

Harry's magically wet finger finds its way to where Louis wants him least. Louis cries out at the  
unpleasant sensation of something wiggling inside him, slowly inching upwards along his velvety  
walls. He's had partners before and he's had sex before but he's never been unwilling or had a mind  
so blank it was _scary_.

"You can't give him just one, H." Edward's voice rings out from somewhere in the room.  
No time is spent searching for him and Louis feels a second appendage invade his body. He shivers  
and curls his fingers harder, more painfully until some steam is let off. Edward's words set off a  
trigger in Harry's head because suddenly there are three fingers knuckle deep in Louis' body. Louis  
is starting to pant and breathe brokenly, chest turning a strong pink shade.

"Pull out."

Harry's fingers are gone, their fullness and excellent occupation of stretching Louis' glistening rim  
quit immediately. He refrains from mewling because he _doesn't want this_ despite his body's  
messages.

He forgets about Nick, about the black file not too far from his head on the desk he's sprawled out  
on, about all the foul things that led up to this single event. The lives lost. The people violated.  
Families torn apart. A small town called Middleston reduced to 'The home of the notorious Styles  
brothers'.

The body bending over him between his legs, stretching his warm thighs apart as green burrowed  
into blue, is all that has his attention. He arches off the table when Harry completely squashes him.

"Petal." Harry whispers, circling his mouth around the word and making it a soft purr.

Louis waits for it, the moment he can claim as the worst and most disgusting. It doesn't come.  
Harry's length is impressively large and curved upward but goes nowhere near Louis' tight muscle  
that's clenching around nothing. Fear drains out and some of his conscious returns to him, as Louis  
looks Harry in the eye questioningly.

"Wha-" Harry groans out loud, pleasure lacing that exclamation to cut Louis' off.  
He's about to ask again but Harry starts to thrust against him, hips colliding with Louis' strongly. It  
hurts to have so many thrusts slamming into his pelvic region but he's not to occupied with that  
when Harry is releasing a series of pleasured noises that have nothing to do with him.  
Louis is confused.

He can feel Harry's rock hard erection against his, rubbing the underside of his own length with  
forceful brushes. His skin is sliding against Harry's with sweat causing the sensitive surface to glow.  
Instead of actually doing what Edward instructed, _suggested cruelly_ he is grinding against  
Louis to keep from actually penetrating both his body and magnified sanity.

His arms strain and Harry's hands grab his hips to cause jerking movements everytime he rocks  
forward. Louis' eyes widen with realisation. 

He's _faking_.


	4. Chapter Four

**His arms strain and Harry's hands grab his hips to cause jerking movements everytime he rocks  
forward. Louis' eyes widen with realisation.**

** He's _faking_.**

***NARRATOR'S POV***

The picture wasn't perfect. It didn't _make sense_ and a lot of what Harry did made little sense.  
Louis drew in shaky little breaths to keep oxygen flowing to his brain when all he wanted was time  
to think about why Harry is risking Edward noticing his disobedience.

Was it for Louis' gratification? Was it just because he didn't find Louis worthy of taking his  
virginity?

Louis allows himself to be violated in this way because it's the better bargain. Edward stood not two  
feet away and one slip-up would mean him noticing Harry's misconduct, so Louis takes the  
inexplicable risk to curl his leg around Harry's hip.

There's a moment where Harry's eyes turn a little darker, a little more fierce and his frown turns  
ugly. He's uncomfortable with the contact but he takes enough time to realise the consequences he  
pushed Louis away. His eyes locked with Louis, their bodies sweating and rubbing against each  
other like real time lovers.

Harry gripped Louis' thigh with deep enough force from his nails digging into the soft tan, that  
Louis belted out a scream he couldn't control. The sting was _painful_ and surely bleeding  
from the relentless press of Harry's finger buds between the split skin slits.

With a heart rapidly pounding against the narrow cage of his chest cavity, Louis began to feel his  
individual ribs aching from the pressure of a heavier weight on him. He scratches Harry's waist and  
scrapes off a skin layer to make the flesh underneath swell in red welts.

A heavy and hung length rubbed against Louis', the friction betraying Louis' frantic and shaken  
nature. The fear seems to subside in favour of filling blood where it shouldn't be, and Louis feels  
himself grow stiffer. This development causes a stutter in Harry's thrusting, slowing down to stare  
into Louis' conflicted orbs of blue wonder.

Louis does Harry a favour and arches his back when the older male's stronger and less  
compassionate hips collide with his. It's more a favour for himself because this is an act they're in  
together. Harry continues his fervent grinding motions, slamming into the space between Louis'  
thighs and reddening it with the bite of muscle on softness.

Harry got desperate about two minutes after his fingers started rubbing the very sensitive dip of skin  
where thigh met pelvis. It was pink and perfectly pale, a tempting bit of skin. Louis jolted a little  
further down the table at the contact and gasped a long, drawn out whimper. It would have been a  
sound that any other partner in his bed would have succumbed to anything he wanted with.

Arms quivering and muscles tightening in the pit of his abdomen, Harry released a silent groan and  
pretended to pull out of Louis by dipping his hand between them. Louis widened his eyes at the  
feeling of Harry taking this opportunity to feel him up. 

A body that's desolate and unaccustomed to a lover's soft touch bore down on Louis' more delicate  
form until the sexual aura was tangible enough to burn someone. Harry came with a warm splatter  
on Louis' tummy, painting what he's claimed with his seed.

The stickiness of their state only gets worse when Harry withdraws completely. For a split second  
Louis actually considers not letting go of Harry just to keep his bare self covered with  
_something_ as he feels his dignity melt away with the late hours.

Of course he doesn't actually have the guts to do more than feel himself deflate and let the moisture  
on his skin eat away at him until he's angry but distraught.

With Harry gone Louis hopes for some minutes alone with himself but Edward's stayed behind even  
after Harry left the room like he was allergic to something in it. He took several seconds brushing  
Louis' cheek with the backs of his knuckles, leaning in close with his expression unreadable.

Louis felt he could do nothing more than lift his gaze from the floor to Edward, their faces so close  
together. He took several loud breaths and hoped the drum beat he was hearing didn't belong to the  
headache he was developing. Fear has become mild with him in this place now. Over the course of a  
week, he's become desensitized.

"You did well, petal." Edward held Louis' jaw too tightly and his voice was screwed a little tight.  
"I'm impatient to have my turn."

Just when Louis thinks he's about to get kissed by a mouth full of shark teeth, Edward straightens  
up and leaves with no more words. It takes a while after the door's slammed shut and for Louis'  
overhead light bulb to flicker out of life before he's curled up on his desk with only a hoodie on. He  
cries into his palms as the heavy curtain lifts from his mind and he fully comprehends what's  
happened to him.

His sobs wrack his body until he's shaking, shivering from the cold and trying to sit up. His thighs  
are burning up with the cuts that Harry put there, only to later dig his fingers in so the skin split  
even more. Blood dripped out from the four puncture wounds in single files, pooling on his desk's  
oak.

Louis wipes his face and jumps down from the table, overstating his strength and stumbling with  
the rush of blood to his head. He whines from his side banging into his filing cabinet and pulls  
himself upright so he can clean up in the bathroom.

He's _done_. He's done wanting answers because this is why they favoured him, why he was  
called petal and not Louis. They just wanted his body to toss between them and he's sick of putting  
himself in the perfect position between them. All it did was get him sexually assaulted. He was a  
complete idiot, with all his qualifications and intellect, to think that five years changed people so  
stuck in their ideology.

After cleaning himself with disinfectant and a scrubbing tool that scraped off layers of skin until it  
was raw, Louis redressed gingerly and got out of the Madhouse without looking back.

* * * * *

kept him damp with sweat. His shower lasted thirty minutes and he ate breakfast at a snail's pace.  
"You okay, Lou?" Niall asked when he noticed his friend was stirring something in an empty bowl.

Louis snapped out of his horrid memories and blinked at his best friend. "What?"

"There's nothin' in there." Niall took said white porcelain bowl and poured his own breakfast into it.  
"Did something happen?"

Niall's not the most sly or discreet person Louis knows. "I'm fine, Ni. Middle promise."

Middle promise is a thing he and Niall made up when they were together in university. Everyone  
used pinky promise but they swore with their middle fingers locked together.

"There's a thing tonight." Niall starts off after accepting Louis' answer.

"You'll um, have to elaborate, Ni." Louis picks his black _Nike_ jacket out of the closet.

Niall followed him to the door, angel face on full-mode as he watched Louis put his keys and wallet  
in his pockets. "A new club is opening in town. Small and everyone wants in."

"Where are you going with this?" Louis sighs, shoving his hands in his pockets and involuntarily  
rubbing his tummy with his thumbs through the fabric.

No amount of contact with it will ever remove the burn of having been touched there by Harry  
Styles.

"Come with me." Niall is begging, it's easy to tell with his enlargened crystal eyes and pouted lips.

"Yeah, okay." Louis nods once or twice, he's not sure. "What time?"

"Seven." Niall turns around and goes deeper into the apartment. "Try not to kill your mother."

It's not Louis' fault that he smiles at hearing that. "Yeah."

On the twenty minute drive to Middleston's only train station, Louis puts the radio on as loud as he  
can to drown out his thoughts. Unfortunately it still feels silent, still feels empty and he ends up  
thinking about how to handle last night. He's a psychology student and he can't handle  
_himself_.

He's not about to dig deeper, if he's sure of anything. He has to go back to the Madhouse tomorrow  
or sometime after that so he can't hide. The Styles brothers will be released into the custody of the  
state tomorrow and Louis has no way to knowing what to do.

Nick's murder case has been inconclusive and made cold in just a day. Louis couldn't go in there  
shouting Harry's name because Middleston is an old town and the people in it were older. They'd  
call him crazy and lock him up in the same place as the culprits. 

He's going to take this a day at a time and go with Niall to his club rave tonight to get his mind off  
everything. A one night stand should do him some good when it comes to forgetting what Harry did,  
where Harry lingered most.

His fingers tighten around the steering wheel, the noise from his crinkly jacket filling the car along  
with some idiot shouting a rap from his radio speakers. Louis groans and switches the whole thing  
off, nearly swerving off the road in his urgency.

The train station manager knows him and spends twelve minutes chatting to Louis in the chilly  
morning breeze with leaves brushing their shoes and the horns of incoming vessels surrounding  
them.

"So it's true then, huh?" Old man Neville takes a puff of his cigarette.

"What?" Louis keeps his hands in his pockets curled around his keys.

"Your neck." Neville nodded in its general direction. "One of the Styles really did go at you?"

_Both of them actually._ "He got his punishment for it."

Louis tightens his scarf around his neck, feeling the itch of his bandage getting too tight and biting  
his lip instead of loosening the knot. He had to keep from scratching the side of his leg where the  
four untidy red slits on his skin is open and exposed to the fabric of his jeggings.

The train from an upstate county rolls in just seventeen minutes after the big black overhead clock  
strikes ten. It's one of their minor delays compared to the two-day delay of 1975. Louis bids Neville  
adieu and watches the old retiree go back to his little cubicle by the tracks.

She appears from one of the exit platforms on the far end of the track. Louis takes a moment to sigh  
and jog over the distance so he can help her with the three bags she's carrying. He feels the stretch  
and burn in his thighs, the unkind whip of cold air on his neck.

"Hey, Lou." She's pulling him into a hug before he can politely decline.

"Yeah." He gives her an affectionless, one-armed pat on the shoulder blade before retracting  
himself. "I booked you a hotel."

Her face appears to have fallen to a certain degree but she fights to keep that smile on her face  
against the gravity of rejection. "I'm not staying with you?"

"No." He shrugs, only mildly apologetic. "There's no space at my place. The hotel is really close by  
and you have my number, should you need me."

The rest of the drive is silent and Louis opens zero frontiers for a conversation. He arrives at her  
hotel that's decent in duality and is costing him a decent amount of money, to help her out of his car  
with her bags and check in.

"Here we are." He sets her bags down in her small, cosy room and is ready to leave. "Call me if you  
need anything."

"Louis!" She calls after his retreating back with a heavy heart and unresolved issues lingering close  
by. "Could we...grab lunch tomorrow? Maybe later today?"

"I have work today." He lies. All he really has to do is complete his assignment for uni before  
driving it to the post office, as well as begin the first page of his thesis on the criminal mind.

"Tomorrow? Yeah, okay."  
She seems satisfied to be getting any time with her unwilling son and nods with a tiny smile teasing  
her thin pink lips. "I'll call you?"

"Alright then." Louis doesn't know what to do so he smiles and waves with his hand on the  
doorknob. "I'll see you."

He's gone out into the empty hallway moving towards the elevators with his head feeling heavy on  
his shoulders. When he turned his attention, it felt like his head would snap right off his neck and  
roll onto the floor. It was task to keep it held up.

Back in his car, he evaluates himself and whether he feels guilty for the way he received his mother  
or not. No such feelings surface so he concludes that he's handled that decently. On the drive home  
he picks up lunch from a drive thru just because he likes the long wait and occupied thoughts.

He listens to the hustle and bustle of the people ahead of him ordering and paying for their food. He  
tries not to let his mind wander back to a day ago when he was sprawled out on a table at the mercy  
of someone a thousand time more ruthless than the average sociopath. He struggles with it and  
eventually comes back to that same event.

His body feels pent up and exhausted, built up to the worst case scenario. Someone unkind and  
unworthy has tainted more than just his body, and he's got no way of getting that feeling off him. He  
can barge into Harry's cell and demand to know why he's treated the way that he is. Unfortunately,  
these brothers are not average in intelligence or physique and could therefore be doing this just  
because they _know_ he'll come back to them.

He plans to tighten up on their security around Harry and Edward until their release. The rules  
stated that he couldn't extend their detainment twice and Nick's pointless murder is not pinned to  
them so they'll be set free tomorrow. Louis hopes that their period of detention just meant that they  
were deprived of all the good, intoxicating things in life. Their rehab will kick in - he hopes - and  
maybe they'll leave him alone.

"Here's your meal." The girl behind the window with burning red hair in untidy tangles under a  
McDonalds cap says to him. "Enjoy. Pay at the next window."

"Thanks." He pulls up at the next window and throws his scarf into the seat next to him before  
handing over the correct amount of cash.

His knuckles turn from angry red to page white during the final leg of his journey. He ignores the  
pinch of pain that presents and pulls into the reserved parking space tenants of his building have.  
Niall serves no purpose to Louis while he gets his paper done. He types out the final bit and prints it  
before slotting it into an A4 envelope and getting back in his car.

"You look good in that." Niall compliments his choice in black pants. "You should ear that."

"Yeah okay." Louis pulls a T-shirt on over his bum-hugging pants then a black sweater. 

"Are you going for a twink kinda look?"

Louis glares at his best friend. "_Twink?_"

"A gay or effeminate man, or a young man regarded as an object of homosexual desire." Niall reads  
off his phone. "_Or_ you're a finger-shaped cream-filled cake. Basically the same thing."

Louis' scandalised face is a fair contender and he throws a belt in the direction of Niall while he  
pulls shoes over his feet.

* * * * *

"A beer at a new club?! Are you insane, Louis?" Niall yells over the heavy electric beat of the  
speakers.

"I'd like to not get completely smashed tonight, Ni." Louis remains seated on the bar stool where his  
feet don't touch the ground and the alcoholic beverage in his hand makes him forget the mark on his  
neck.

"Why the Hell not?" Niall puts on his best offended face. "I brought you with me to get smashed,  
Lou."

Louis laughs but shakes his head in rejection. "I'm good, really. Go earn your hangover, best  
friend."

"Love you!" Niall plants a big kiss on Louis' cheek before squeezing through the mass of bodies at  
the dance floor, heading for the centre of it all.

Someone takes up the stool on Louis' left as soon as the old geyser previously in it evacuates the  
space. "Your boyfriend is very energetic."

Louis looks up at this new somebody who has neatly trimmed hair and a slight shadow on his  
strong jaw. His face was easily described as square and rigid, the face of a man with little time for  
himself.

"My _boyfriend_ is just really excited to be at a club when all he does every day is work."

The attractive man with an expensive suit chuckles. "Why do you say it like that?"

"He's not my boyfriend." Louis' amused smile stays hidden behind the rim of his beer bottle.

"No?" The smirk that creeps onto this stranger's face is both enthralling and dangerously desirable.  
Later that night with the hardworking man in his bed after two rounds of some of the best sex either  
has had, Louis is asked about the multiple marks his body carries. His name is Anthony and he  
especially likes burying his face in Louis' soft tummy, frowning as he investigates the four cuts on  
Louis' thigh.

"What happened here?" He gave the small injuries many kisses that made Louis giggle. 

"I told you where I work." Louis cards through the soft jet black hair on Anthony's head.

Louis couldn't tell Anthony the truth. It was his baggage and he couldn't imagine burdening  
someone as gentle as Anthony with it. "Oh baby."

"Don't worry about me."

"Why shouldn't I?" Anthony's blue eyes that were closer to navy than crystal, burned into Louis'  
eyes. "Can I take you on a real date tomorrow?"

_Huh?_ "A date?"

"A date." Anthony's amused smirk is a true contender for any alluring smirk Louis' seen. "Should I  
run you through the concept?"

"No, no." Louis giggles and turns over onto his side when he's given enough space. "I'd love to go  
on a date with you."

Anthony's triumphant face is beautiful. He grins and the scattered faint freckles on his cheeks get  
closer as he leans down to kiss Louis, smiles on both their faces.

Louis wakes up the next day to an empty but warm bed. He stays buried in the sheets for a while  
longer, hiding his face in the pillow that smelt of Hugo Boss and expensive fabric. He also smells  
bacon wafting through the apartment, along with something made of sweet batter and eggs. Niall  
can't cook for shit so it certainly isn't him.

"Morning." He walks into the kitchen wearing a shirt that isn't his and nothing else, yawning the  
sleep away.

"I love your new boyfriend!" Niall attacks him with a confession from the kitchen counter, Anthony  
chuckling behind it.

"That's too bad because he's just a homeless guy I felt sorry for last night."

Niall's never looked so heartbroken, angry and disappointed all in one glance before. Louis' willing  
to bet his net worth that the last time he saw Niall look that way was approximately thirteen months  
ago when one of Niall's dates ate the last of the Nutella.

* * * * *  
Louis' always had dodgy connotations hooked to the asylum's fine establishment. He never felt  
especially energetic or _proud_ to arrive at his place of work, but he's also never been  
ungrateful.

The building remains where it's been for over two hundred years now, appearing bigger and more  
monstrous with the dull morning hues painting over it. Louis stays in his car, fingers wrapped  
around the steering wheel as he takes calming breaths and tries not to frighten the truthful nuns  
walking out of the building. 

He hops out when he's certain he's ready to face this new day. It already feels heavier outside, like  
it's ready to tear him apart piece by piece the minute he walks into the Madhouse. Due to this, he  
takes his time walking up the staircase of thirty-seven steps towards the set of double doors that feel  
like burning hot iron from Hell.

A paramedic races out through those very doors and Louis has to pause in his step to let him pass.  
"Hurry up!" The same medic shouts to obviously someone inside the Madhouse.

Two breaths later both doors fly open and a gurney is carried out. Louis rushes to step aside,  
gasping when the face of one of their patients stares unblinkingly up at him. Their eyes are pale and  
their lips are blue, face shot dead with paralysis.

Louis sprints up the rest of the stairs and down the hallway, searching for a face that can explain to  
him why Sir Edmund Hollick is dead. Edmund is a thirty-something year old chap with a lot left to  
be desired, he was dying of a tumour and diagnosed with creepy perversion. Louis only spoke with  
him once and that was _enough_.

"Dr. Murs!" Louis spots his former mentor re-entering his office after sighing and regretfully  
shaking his head.

"Louis. Hey." He walks in with Louis to their office, granting the latter a brief distraction to keep  
him from staring emptily at his work desk.

"What happened?" Louis is fit enough to not be out of breath yet. "To Edmund. What happened to  
Edmund?"

Dr. Murs falls into his creaky old swivelling chair, lacing his crow fingers together under his chin.  
He looked older than his actual age and more tired than is good for him. "I don't know."

Louis gives him a blatant disbelieving glance, perching himself on a nearby rocky table after  
dumping his bag on it.

"There was no blood." Dr. Murs says softly, hauntingly. "One of the Sisters phoned me and said  
Edmund wasn't moving. I got here and the medic's declared him dead from a heart attack."

A heart attack? Louis' nose scrunches up to a wrinkly form while he considers this. A heart attack  
has never been something that their patients ever suffered from, unless they were scared. Edmund  
was too crazy to be concerned about worldly things so what was frightening enough to _kill him?  
_

"Are they opening a case?" Louis clears his throat and flexes his ankle that's gotten a little tight  
since last night.

"If they do, it'll end up like Nick's."  
Louis bites his lip and thinks. He feels the irritating roughness of chapped lips and bits of dry flesh.  
In his uni days, he became good friends with one of the officers who came to investigate an on  
campus major narcotics issue. Last Louis heard, Liam Payne was promoted to detective and bored  
at the office. 

"Can we open a case?" Louis crosses his arms over his chest to block out the chill invading the  
confines of his jacket.

"How?" Dr. Murs loved all his patients. He mourned any loss and too many were lost this year  
which affected Louis as well.

"I can call in a friend." Louis offers, and he can see already that Dr. Murs is going to ask his wife to  
make him another casserole. "He can come down here and work with our police department."

"Where's he from?" Dr. Murs asks, intrigued.

"Detroit." Louis licks his lips. "I'll give him on my break."

"Excellent. Uh- Take this-" The doctor scribbles down a note and hands it to Louis. "-to Reverend  
James. Tell him to close off Edmund's cell."

Although he was told the bare minimum of what to do, Louis got the hint and jogged out of the joint  
office into a ice cold hallway. Lonely people walked up and down, nurses and Sisters trying to get  
their jobs done so they can retire from this cursed institution.

Reverend James' office is two levels up and because of the absence of elevators, Louis had to take a  
spiral staircase that clung to an unstable tower wall. He was not fit enough to arrive at the stamped  
door without panting like a laboured dog.

The Reverend is unhappy to comply but he does so anyway. Louis listens to him preach some minor  
part of the Bible before thanking him and leaving with a signed acknowledgement of what he's  
promised.

"You've got two meetings today." Dr. Murs did him the honour of fetching Louis' task files from the  
pigeon holes at the reception desk. "They're separated this time."

Louis nearly drops his water bottle at the sound of that. The last statement gets him close enough to  
the realisation of who his two patients are today and _of course_ it would be them. They're  
getting released today and he needs to sign off on their sanity.

"Okay." He squeaks.

The times of the meetings are 10h00 and 11h30. Morning meetings are not Louis' forte but both  
Styles are scheduled for discharge at 14h00 so he has no choice. Dr. Murs has seen his notes, spent  
some time being sympathetic along with half of Middleston. Louis still had to face this evil and he  
had to face it today.

At 09h54 he stops scribbling points down for his thesis essay and grabs a black folder, pencil and  
takes a large gulp of water. He puts a reminder on his iPhone to call Liam the detective as soon as  
he's out of the first appointment - Harry.

Louis is not a coward but his hands can't stop shivering like a leaf in the wind when he's reaching  
out for the solitary compartment's door handle. The guards pretend not to notice and they allow him  
all the time he needs to unhook the door's lock.

"Wait here." Louis tells them both to stop them from following him into the cell. "I'll....scream if I  
need you."

It isn't a joke but Bill looks amused anyway. Louis holds his bated breath and walks into the dark  
room before slamming the door shut behind him.

It's dead silent inside after the door has settled on its ledge, the echo of cold metal shuddering  
disappearing with the chirps of birds outside. Louis flips the light switch after feeling around the  
wall to his left for two seconds, eager to have light shed in this room of unsettling pitch blackness.  
He just manages to contain his deeply troubled gasp, one octave short of a shriek.

"Harry!" He can't help but screech and drop everything he's holding from sheer shock.

"Hey, petal." The man responds, utterly calm, with no shirt on and a steady frown present on his  
features.

The walls have tallies all over them, varying from tiny to extra bold in size. Some strokes are darker  
than others and most are untidily scrawled onto the hard concrete. The most striking fact is that  
they're all red and dripping, some crusted or dried in those blood rivers to the ground. They're  
without a doubt written in blood, small quantities by the smell of pungent rust instead of gagworthy salt.

"Where were you yesterday?" Harry is seated on his thin mattress, one knee drawn up to his chest  
and the other bare foot on the ground.

"What is this?" Louis picks his things up off the dirty floor and leaves them on the table available to  
him in the corner of the room.

"_Where were you yesterday, petal?_" Harry was glaring powerfully at Louis but it was also  
sad and Louis couldn't for the life of him understand why.

"I-I...I was off work yesterday." Louis put on a frown of his own and stepped close enough to the  
wall with more tallies than the rest. "Answer my question. What's this?"

Harry remained seated, eyes trained on Louis' body. "How many strokes are there?"

There had to be over a thousand, marking the pale green wall from vertex to vertice. "Too many."

"Two thousand two hundred, give or take." Harry's bed creaks as he pulls his legs under him in a  
criss-cross fashion. "One hundred and eighty for Wednesday. One thousand, four hundred and forty  
for yesterday. Five hundred and eighty for today."

Louis frowns as he tries to understand this wordless puzzle, extracting his phone from his pocket to  
take a picture of it. Harry doesn't object, or do much else but maintain his unhappy expression.

"What do you think it means?" Harry asks him, sounding like a malevolent hiss.

"I don't know." Louis says truthfully. "Whose blood is this, Harry?"

"You were _off work_ yesterday?" Harry started to shake his head like he has told a lie and is  
now fighting to defend it. "Edward said you weren't coming. I didn't believe him because why  
would you- why would you _do that_? One stroke, one minute-"

He's started scaring Louis with the way his body rocked back and forth, shaking the whole bed  
contraption and muttering away loudly. Louis pockets what he has in his hands and rushes to take a  
seat in front of Harry, kneeling with one knee on the filthy floor.

"Harry? Look at me, Harry." He's not sure about touching Harry right now so he tries speaking  
clearly in a voice that is probably used to tame wild horses.

Harry's eyes are as wild as said horses and he looks at Louis with stormy green marbles. He slows  
down. "My petal."

And then Harry's reaching for Louis and the boy doesn't think the look in Harry's eye means him  
any harm but that's what he thought before Wednesday too. He encircles Harry's wrist with his hand  
and shakes his head.

"Who's blood is this?" Louis was desperate to know so he could at least rule out one mystery.

Harry meets Louis' eye, lips a little parted and gaze a little clouded over. He touches Louis' cheek  
with his gentle fingertips. "Mine."

"Are you lying, Harry?" Louis had to check. He didn't see any visible injuries on Harry for all this  
blood to come from somewhere.

Harry shakes his head slowly and his fingers must touch something he isn't happy with because a  
disgruntled, scary sound rolls out of his chest. Louis feels the throb of a bruise being pressured on  
his neck and he tries to pull away in time. That must be one of the new love-bites his body was  
marked with.

"Petal." Harry _growled_ and it put permanent shivers in Louis' spine to run up and down,  
back and forth until there was nothing but the timeless drip of fear left behind. "You let someone  
touch you."

When Louis tries to stand up, Harry holds his waist with a grip so tight it creates bruises. He pulls  
Louis down to him and keeps him pinned to his lap, petting over Louis' sides. Whenever Louis  
resisted, he squeezed too tightly and warned him with a glare.

"I waited for you." Harry inspected the neat red mark below Louis' jaw. "I waited for you and you  
let some unworthy motherfucker touch you."

Louis had to get a word in edge wise. He took Harry's hands away from his bandaged neck and kept  
them in his lap. "Listen to me, Harry."

Harry doesn't let Louis stop him when he leans in close to nuzzle the boy's neck. Louis smells of  
warm things, soft things and apples. He blankets over Harry's constantly aggravated, raw and  
unpleasant moods with this sweetness.

"You're leaving this place today, Harry." Louis shivered in the arms of his once upon a time attacker  
who was breathing heavily into his neck and rubbing his back in an attempt to be comforting. "You  
can be nice and sweet, I know you can. Can you make me a promise, Harry?"

Harry's eyes are probably closed and his bulky arms constrict all the way around Louis' slender  
hips. The curve of his bum is treated as nothing special and Harry hugs that area of him too. He's  
very protective of his petal.

"Will you ever hurt someone again?" Louis asks in a low but shaky voice. He never thought in all  
his years, that this is a place he'd end up.

"I'd hurt anyone for you, petal." He confesses groggily, clearly having no sleep or nutrition for too  
many hours. "You and Edward."

"I don't want you to hurt anyone for me, Harry." Louis rushes his input.

"Why not?" Harry's voice has returned to the tone that Louis heard the first day he saw Harry. Cold  
and unkind.

"Because you can't _take life_, Harry." Louis puts it plainly, staring back at the set of emeralds  
admiring the blue fire in his eyes.

"I can." Harry bends Louis' neck at an angle that allows him to look at the bright red mark that's  
been put there by _someone else._ "I'll find out who did this-" Harry touched it with his index  
finger. "-and I'll drive a hot poker through his stomach."

That's when Louis starts to squirm and push Harry away. One arm from the man is enough to stop  
all of Louis' strength from getting him away. The grip was inhuman, steel-harsh and impossible to  
dodge. Louis began to struggle with the image of Anthony having a hot poker through him.  
"It'll take longer to pierce his skin." Harry laughed. "It'll start clotting but there'll be too much  
blood, too much damage. He'll bleed for a very long time, petal."

"Harry!" Louis got his chest free of Harry's hold but that was nothing against the rest of his captive  
body.

"It'll be all your fault, petal." Harry touches Louis' chest, thumbing the boy's perfectly shaped collar  
bones. "You could lock him up in a jewellery box and I'd still find him. Oh how silly you can be,  
petal."

With a heart that's twice its regular size from the swell of trauma, Louis forces his way out of  
Harry's hold. He ends up with some more scratches on his hips and Harry following him to the door.  
Despite his speed, Harry pins him to the nearest wall easily.

"You won't tell anyone about our special night." Harry says it like a worldly truth, a universally  
acclaimed theory. "You'll keep your best friend alive that way."

_What?_

"The blond one?" Harry smiles the way Edward does but with the failing fluorescent bulbs above  
their heads it looks more daunting. "Loud fellow with a gambling habit? If I know that even though  
I'm stuck in here-" Harry pries Louis' hands away from his waist so he can slip his rough hands  
underneath his sweater. "-_imagine_ what I'm capable of when I'm outside."

Louis' mind races at a thousand mile a minute rate. Niall's in danger and it's all his fault. Anthony's  
doomed and it's his fault. Louis had one option to keep them alive and he treasured his friend above  
himself so he'd do it for them. 

"I won't hurt him." Harry continues, holding the bare skin of Louis' waist. "I won't touch a hair on  
your mother's head. She's in town for a while, isn't she? I won't mutilate your beloved father or old  
Neville at the train station."

Harry says it all in a sing-song manner and it drives Louis up the wall with madness. The hot  
feeling startles his mind as it jumps around on a stick poking the corners of his head.  
"I have a price, petal, for all this." Harry pulls the neck hole of Louis' sweater down to his naked  
shoulder. "Belong to me."

Harry's face is less than inches away from Louis'. Their eyes take a long while to meet because  
Louis' are watery and stinging while Harry's are solid lava that burns anything on sight. Plump but  
cold lips graze Louis' cheek, making him swallow with enough gusto for it to hurt.

"I'll even strike a deal with you because after all this rehab, I feel enlightened."  
Harry picks Louis' legs up off the ground and plants them on his hips. He turns his head into Louis'  
neck and the boy let's his first tears roll down his face.

"I won't kill the bastard who touched you." Honest to whatever diety Louis once believed in, this is  
the best news he's heard all day. "Answer me now and I won't touch anyone you love. Make me  
wait and _he dies._"

It's really not a difficult decision to make because Louis knows that going to the authorities with  
this would do him a fat lot of nothing. The whole town knew about Harry and Edward Styles. It  
took two detectives' teams to bring them in and nobody survived but them. They'd all much rather  
sacrifice the boy from out of town than go through that again.

"Got an answer for me, petal?" Harry secures the opposite side of Louis' face, keeping him close  
and in physical contact.

Louis' lips quiver and the cold intake of air hurts his gritted teeth. He forces himself to stop crying,  
stop giving Harry the victory of knowing he's slowly tearing him up like tissue paper.

"Y-Yeah." Louis is nodding while Harry hoists him jerkily higher on his waist. He squeaks with  
fresh tears on his face when Harry's tentative grim expression becomes appeased.

"Yes you have an answer or yes is your answer?" Harry coaxes, needing to hear it in a sentence.  
"Bo-Both." Louis swallows with a tight throat and feels the regret already welling in his chest.

"My petal." Harry's cursed and savage hands reach the back pockets of Louis' jeans. "Are they  
going to come in?"

Louis throws his head back against the wall, staring at the bright light and hoping it will blind him.  
"N-No."

Harry slips his hands, both curious and large palms of calloused skin, between Louis' legs and  
smirks at the boy's gasp. He rubs the tempting skin of Louis' thighs through the tight jean fabric,  
mindful of the bandage on Louis' neck while he hides his face there. 

Louis shivered from the contact. He winced and whimpered like the touch made him feel dirty,  
horrible. Harry kept at it, completely entranced by the possibility of the sweetest skin he's ever  
known existing here on this beautiful boy.

"You'll get used to it, petal." Harry whispered with dark seduction that trapped Louis in another  
world. "You'll want it all the time soon."

Louis' nails dug into Harry's bare back, above his shoulder blades and between the well rounded  
bones that jutted out through his skin. He clung to the man's person with such a deep grip that it tore  
skin and made it bleed. Harry groaned and punished Louis by tangling his fingers in his hair,  
yanking until his head but bent backwards at a painful nearly U-angle.

He said nothing to Louis and his teeth sank into the mark that was pre-existing on Louis' neck. He  
bit and sucked painfully until the mark was redder, bloodier and much bigger. Louis blinked away  
his tears and began to breathe in broken gasps, pants that didn't fill his lungs fully.

Harry lifted him higher in a throw and caught him on the short trip down. He unbuttoned Louis'  
jeans but left it at that and crashed down on Louis' mouth with his invasive, hard lips. Being  
momentarily distracted, Harry put both palms on the wall and pushed his tongue past Louis' lips,  
dragging his nails over Louis' thighs that had dropped to the ground with _force_. His eyes  
were closed and his lips took turns harshly sucking on either of Louis' grabbing the boy's thighs and  
hiking it up again.

"You kiss me, petal, or you kiss my brother." Harry withdrew with his hand curled around Louis'  
throat. "I assure you, he's not as kind as I am."

After that, Louis let's Harry do what he wishes. He kisses back with the thought of his family and  
friends alive with happiness while he lives this misery. It's alright if he can learn to accommodate it  
until there's a solution.

Harry drops Louis' legs to the ground and made a low, almost demonic growl from the pit of his  
chest while he forced Louis' jeans and boxer briefs away. Louis started tearing up again and felt  
cold from the loss of clothing. A warm body closed around him and he felt even colder.

Vivid red lines from three fingernails ran down Louis' thigh now and Harry picked him up again,  
connecting their lips with the taste of salty tears and saliva mixing between them. When Louis  
pulled away for air, Harry chased after him. He grinded between Louis' legs, almost hurting the boy  
in his haste to get them both aroused enough. Louis took longer after it dawned on him that Harry  
wasn't going to do him a favour this time.

Louis got no prep and no time to adjust. Harry showed his anger concerned his petal being touched  
by any other person but immediately bucking his hips against Louis'. He pushed in slowly though  
but the glimmer of hope that presented was extinguished soon enough. Harry held Louis' waist and  
folded his legs, their hips banging together with a sweaty slide.

Harry felt big when he was faking Louis' rape but now, nestled so deep that he barely had to move  
to nail his prostrate, he was _huge_. Louis hated feeling this full, this dirty on the inside and  
out. He couldn't scream but he bit Harry's lip like it had no feeling and pulled his hair like the nerve  
tips were numb.

The fucking didn't end until Harry knew Louis would come too. Voluntarily or not, Louis' body  
could get aroused. Harry pulled almost all the way out and slammed all the way in so it   
_stung_ and he moaned into Louis' ear from the raining pleasure in his bones. He pistoned his  
hips in wild bucks, fucking the air out of Louis and his precome into him.

Louis made no sound. He accepted Harry's rough kisses and let his insides be pushed and nudged  
by an angry throbbing erection wanting to burrow inside him. His nails left crimson marks on  
Harry's shoulders and back. Harry felt his orgasm approach with magical speed and stopped his  
thrusting suddenly.

"Shut up." He saw the look in Louis' eye, the urge to scream. He cleared the table of Louis' things  
and threw him on it. "You scream, petal, and I'll have to hurt you."

No threat has been as vagrant as that one, and it got Louis to immediately close his mouth. His back  
slammed against ice steel and the base became sore with a collision of it on the hard edge. Harry  
stepped between his legs and loomed over him, in his head protecting his petal from anyone else.  
He curled his hands around Louis' thighs and started up his pace again, this time going for hard and  
deep. Shallow thrusts forgotten, Harry pounded Louis into the table and kept all their sounds in by  
kissing him. His petal tasted like him now.

Louis came first and his body sagged afterwards. He felt Harry's kisses on his neck and up to his  
lips. Harry's hips stuttered and he came after pulling out, landing his seed on Louis' thighs.

"My petal." Harry picked Louis up off the table again and held him against him, rubbing Louis'  
back and kissing his shoulder.

So he didn't fall with the exhaustion his body was slowing giving in to, Louis wrapped his arms  
around Harry's neck. His legs began to slip and Harry hiked them higher, ignoring the damp residue  
between them. Louis had to hold on for the sake of so many people.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the end of chapter four


	5. Chapter Five

_Death is not the greatest loss in life. The greatest loss is what dies inside us while we live. -  
Norman Cousins. _

**Louis had to hold on for the sake of so many people.**

***NARRATOR'S POV***

"You're a silent sleeper, petal." The voice roused Louis from the slumber he inevitably fell into after  
his body began to tremble with exhaustion.

His 'nap' was short of course because his hour with Harry was almost up - three whole minutes to go  
\- and he was still stark nude from the waist down. The bed he slept in smelt of mould and dust but  
the chest he slept _on_ was a million times worse.

Not for smell or physical condition as both Harry and Edward prided themselves in maintaining a  
tip-top physique, but because Louis wanted to be nowhere near this chest.

"You know-" Harry keeps Louis plastered to his torso, a vice-like grip on his delicate waist and  
fingers drumming an imaginary beat on Louis' sweet bruised skin. "-all they have to do is turn  
around."

He was referring to the guards on the other side of the door. When Louis finally gets a response  
close to his lips, Harry sits up and shifts the entire bed structure in that one motion. He sustains his  
hold on Louis and places their faces intimately close. His head was tilted slightly and he held one  
side of Louis' face in his excessively large hand.

"What would they do if they did?" Harry met Louis' scorching gaze before swooping lower and  
capturing his lips in an anti-harmonious kiss.

"They'd add rape to your list of offences." Louis smartly replies.

Harry slaps him.

It comes out of nowhere and Louis' face snaps to the right after getting back-handed. His cheek  
reddens and he _knows_ he can't retaliate, should have expected this and shouldn't be tearing  
up again because of a slap. It does nothing more than sting like Hell fire on Louis' face, soothed  
shortly when he's dropped to the mattress and kisses litter that cheek.

"I'm sorry, my petal." Harry murmurs against his cheekbone, wet lips dampening Louis' skin. Tears  
get on Harry's lips and he licks his lips for the taste.

Louis tries to get out from under such a heavy mass but his shoves and squirming all falls futile  
because Harry's still whispering small apologies into Louis' neck, each accompanied by a kiss. They  
don't feel warm or give him butterflies, they make Louis nauseous and livid.

"Petal." Harry warns. He doesn't like that his petal is trying so hard to get away from him. 

"Get off me." Louis is pleading with a high-pitched whine following his words as he stretches out  
the column of his neck.

"Petal, listen to me." Harry sees that he has no choice but to pacify Louis with a harsh bite to his  
clavicle. "I'll let them come in here two minutes from now and find you like this. All spread out and  
lovely. Would you like that? I certainly wouldn't." Harry's eyes become a deep, dark shade of onyx  
as his lips get a little more cherry. "You're _my petal_ and do you know what that means?"

Louis plays dumb. He looks up at Harry like he's a wolf in sheep's clothing and tightens his grasp  
on the man's shoulders. He can feel the scabs from the cuts he left there and the satisfaction is  
vague.

"I know you do, petal. Tell me." Harry is as blank as a canvas when he wants to be and sometimes  
that can be the scariest possible thing.

Louis frees his legs of the tangle they're in and licks his dry lips before answering, carefully this  
time. "Means I'm yours."

Harry _grins_ and it turns out one of the two worst men to ever live has dimples. "Very good,  
petal. That, in turn, means nobody gets to see you without a layer of clothing on besides me."

Louis feels like his ribcage consists of twelve lethal knight swords. He still finds the courage to  
speak. "Wha-What about your brother?"

"We shared a womb, petal."

Harry is _polite_ enough to grab Louis' clothing off the floor. Louis turns onto his front as he  
listens to the slap of Harry's bare feet on cold concrete flooring, the thin blanket their patients are  
forced to use pooling at his waist.

"We're almost the same person." He concludes, seating himself at the edge of the bed and handing  
over Louis' previously lost attire.

Louis' about to say that sharing a womb is not the same as sharing a life, but he's not sure if it'll get  
him hit again or not. He holds his breaking internal walls together, feeling like he was gaping open  
and hollow but still alive miraculously.

"Petal?" Harry grabs hold of Louis' wrist in what is probably the most considerate contact he's had  
with Louis.

The boy is spun around carefully with one twirl until he's back pressed up against Harry's torso. His  
palms land flat on his pectorals and frightened blue eyes becoming locked with Harry's. The white  
space around Louis' magnificently blue orbs are reddened and the skin below his eye is damp. Harry  
touches his cheek with his thumb and bends to kiss him again, holding on tighter when Louis starts  
crying.

"It's alright, Louis." Harry uses his first name and Louis has to look at him like he's mad. "Don't cry,  
petal."

Louis doesn't understand why he shouldn't. He's throwing away his freedom that he's worked for all  
his life, so that the people he held dear would stay safe. He doesn't know how else to say it, express  
what the turmoil in his head feels like, so he walks out Harry's cell without anything to say. 

The first place he goes to is the bathroom outside the Madhouse on the grounds for patients to use  
during their time outside. He locks himself inside with the smell of detergent burning his eyes, and  
screams. His hands grab his hair and pull to relieve pressure, to relieve _pain_. He doesn't care  
how loud he is and how hard he scratches the cheek that Harry hit.

He strips to his last layer of clothing and washes himself. The liquid soap is half depleted by the  
time he's done scrubbing his arms, legs and torso using his nails as a brush. He's sure that the burn  
of his split skin being touched by the foam of soap is not good, but he welcomes the burn.

He washes his hair vigorously using the soap that will dry it out and probably give him dandruff,  
but he doesn't care in this frantic moment.

* * * * *

"How'd it go?" Dr. Murs didn't look up from his desk while he typed away, one finger at a time  
before squinting at the screen from behind his spectacles.

"Huh?" Louis hadn't heard him the first time. In fact, he's not sure he can comprehend anything too  
loud right now. "Sorry, um...yeah it was fine."

Dr. Murs regards him shiftily. "You going to sign off on that one?"

Louis sits at his desk and takes a moment to find the correct position for his sore bum. "I have to,  
don't I?"

His boss says nothing but smiles sadly and goes back to his work station. The clicking of his keys  
picks up again three breaths later. Louis is almost spooked out of his chair when his phone starts to  
ring with the reminder to call Liam the detective now.

"Still want me to give my friend a call?" He asks Dr. Murs through the wall separating them.

"It'll be your case once it gets here, Lou." He reminds Louis. Any fault, success and error will be his  
undoing.

"I'll be right back then."

Louis steps into the hallway for a moment with his phone dialling Liam's number from ages ago. He  
has to wait for thirty beats and two nuns to pass him, one actually glaring at him like he drowned  
her puppy. Louis tries not to roll his eyes and tap his foot.

Liam's voice comes over the speaker as a groggy whisper. "Hello?"

"Hi, Liam Payne?" Louis looks down at the cracked floor while he speaks into the receiver.

"Uh- yes." There's some shuffling the background and Liam's voice gets clearer. "Who is this?"

Louis smiles, an authentic little quirk in his lips. "I think you'll remember my friend Niall better."

"Louis?" Liam sounds instantly brighter than he's certain the person he's speaking to isn't a criminal.  
"Loud-mouth Niall's best friend?"

"I'm offended, Payne." Louis laughs and turns away from the people nearing him.  
"It's been _years_-"

"Months."

"It's been _months_ since we last spoke." Liam's husky chuckle follows after Louis' correction.  
"How's the duckling?"

Liam often referred to Niall as the duckling because of his blond hair but ability to shut down a  
room with his loud, yet adorable nature. Louis flicks some of his damp hair out of his eyes. "He's  
doing great. How about you?"

"I'm managing." Liam sits up in his bed. "So why the sudden call-up, Lou?"

"Are you still in the business for favours?"

"Favours of what nature?"

"Detective work." Louis sighs, kicking a loose piece of wood on the floor. He hopes it's wood.  
"They haven't fired you yet, have they?"

Liam clears his throat as he laughs. "Nah. I'm hangin' in there. What's the case?"

"I don't want to discuss it over the phone."

"Alright then. I can be there by tomorrow morning if I drive."

"You'd be willing?"

"Sure. You've never asked for a favour before and I miss the little duckling enough to pay your ugly  
town a visit."

"I earn a living here, Payne. Watch it."

Liam is not at all impressed with Louis' little threat but doesn't press the matter. "At least tell me if I  
need a team."

"It's a single death. I haven't....it hasn't been _declared_ homicide but I have a hunch." Louis  
has never picked up the habit of biting his nails and now to scratch the anxious itch beneath his  
skin, he wraps an arm around himself. "Still interested?"

"You're still working at that asylum?"

"Yes."

"I'll do some digging before I get there. Text me some basic info to work with."

"Will do." Louis coughs when a dry bubble crawls up his throat.

"Hey, Lou?" Liam stops Louis from hanging up. The boy tended to do that. 

"Yeah?"

"Don't tell Duckling I'm coming, alright?" Liam's voice curves to the contours of a smile. "I wanna  
see his reaction when I surprise him."

"Noted." Louis unwinds his arm from his middle. "Bye, Payne."

"Aha."

After her hangs up, Louis realises that he's been standing on the side ledges of his shoes without  
even knowing it. He personally diagnoses it as nerves and tries to shake it off before returning to Dr.  
Murs' office where he had to deliver some good news.

He wish he knew why he was being so persistent in this case. It wasn't really fair to all the possible  
homicides that went cold with illegitimate and unprofessional investigators. Edmund was someone  
he knew not very closely, but close enough to be suspicious about his sudden demise.

"What will you tell him?" Dr. Murs is beaming about the news of an _actual_ investigator  
making the journey to their little town.

"Name and age." Louis reads off the paper he's jotted all this down on. "Cause of death. My  
suspicion."

"Your suspicion?" Dr. Murs lifts his glasses from the bridge of his nose.

"That something scared him." Louis explains with a pencil between his index and middle fingers.  
"Edmund's come from the part of town where everything's scary. He was healthy and if he died  
from a heart attack it's because he was scared by something."

"Didn't he-"

"Go into shock at Shelly's last birthday party?" Louis nods, recalling the incident from memory. "I  
know."

"Go ahead then. Since he's passed on, you can have Edmund's records for your detective friend."  
Louis nods and manages a smile that resembles gratitude. "When's the funeral?"

Edmund had it documented that upon his death he would have a formal funeral that everyone on a  
specific list had to attend. Louis had seen that list and seen that his name was on it, but the nail-biter  
is that a certain set of twins also had their names put down.

"I'll have Reverend James contact his family." Dr. Murs says. "Off you go now, your last meeting is  
in two minutes."

The dread fills Louis' system once again and he becomes momentarily paralysed by the mention of  
Edward. It didn't have to be said to make Louis shiver.

"Yeah okay." Louis gathers up his belongings again and exits the office with his fingers mentally  
crossed. 

Edward's holding cell in solitary was far enough away from Harry's that he didn't even have to pass  
the latter's door. Louis hurried down the hallways that echoed his footsteps like a light soundtrack,  
the shaking of keys and heavy boots awaiting him at the gate.

When he's in the stairwell heading down to solitary, Louis feels overcome with the presence of  
someone else. He looks around him in the hope that whoever it is turns out to be a stray psych  
patient that he could talk to but there was no one there. He continued walking down the rusty steps  
and eventually came to a halt again when he _swore_ he heard footsteps above him.  
"Hello?" He called out to the air like a vision would make him see who his tail was.

No such thing happened and Louis waited with his hand holding onto the metal railing. Suddenly, it  
shivered like someone touched it near by. He froze and coached his scream, looking up at the roof  
of the tower and seeing no one. He looked down into the depths of the basement with the same  
result.

Wasting no more time with the chills icing his veins cruelly, Louis dashes down the rest of staircase  
and jumps over the last two. His ankle nearly twists on the fall but he manages to get through the  
second last floor's big brown door.

"Tomlinson?" The guard asks him from the other side, bored and awaiting his twenty minute lunch  
break.

"Y-Yeah." Louis controls his breathing with slow intakes. "Let me in."

After a loud buzz that shakes the gate Louis' holding onto, he's allowed once again into the solitary  
unit from a more external entrance. Visitors and patriots came to the Madhouse to make donations,  
and this is what they got to see.

"He's waiting for you." The security guard on this end has spent a good portion of his life working  
here, starting up a retirement fund that turned useless when he just came back to work after  
'retiring'.

"Thanks." Louis' hands shook and no matter how hard her tried to hide it, the black file he was  
holding still shivered like he was malnourished.

Edward's cell is two down from the entrance gate. Louis takes his sweet time getting there, clicking  
his pen and unclicking it. He frowns to himself as he stops and arrives at the door. The guard that's  
been promised to him as companions on any of his visits to either Styles twin unlocks the steel door  
with a green key card before holding the door open for Louis.

"Shout if you need us." The oblivious, ignorant but still good-natured man told Louis.

Inside is brightly lit already, unlike Harry's cell. It's neat and doesn't smell half as foul as Harry's did  
because of the blood on his walls. Edward is waiting at the table with his arms crossed and smirk  
hidden behind the tips of his fingers.

"You're shaking like a leaf, petal." Edward chuckles, his humorous pun is not lost on either of them.  
Edward is wearing his crisp white patients clothing without the faintest stain on it. Louis kicks his  
feet forward and gets to the only other available bench chair. It's cold and unkind to Louis' behind  
but it's better heat on a region he wants no reminder of. 

"What's wrong, darlin'?" Edward drops his hands to the table and Louis actually _hears_ the  
mass of muscle hit stainless steel.

Louis can't do this, not when every sight too bright and sound too loud gets him an edge closer to  
_breaking down._ He shakes his head to himself, internally agreeing with his thoughts and  
stands up.

"I'll um- I'll send D-Dr. Murs." Louis taps his palm with the file in his hand and he's certain the  
small pinch he felt was from a paper cut.

"Wait." Edward doesn't allow him to get farther than the vicinity of the table, standing up in  
readiness to physically grab Louis if he has to. "Petal, sit down."

Louis is conflicted. He doesn't remember being this internally stricken before. He doesn't remember  
being this scatter-brained and inconclusive. Edward's asking him to sit and Louis' looking like a  
deer caught in the headlights of an eighteen wheeler.

"Come here, petal." Edward summoned him with the smile he used to lure unsuspecting victims in  
with.  
Edward holds the tops of Louis' arms as soon as he's within arms reach. Even he knows when Louis'  
too fragile mentally and doesn't push him too far by advancing forward. He sits and takes Louis  
with him, offering him a warm comfort in his arms.

"If he was anyone else-" Edward's prickly teeth touched Louis' temple. "-I'd punish him for hurting  
you, my petal."

Louis wanted out of Edward's cradle. It was uncomfortable with too muscular thighs and arms  
constricting his every breath, every squirm and every motion. He had no choice but to stay under  
Edward's arm and look over his shoulder as he was restrained.

_Wait._

"H-How did you know?" Louis scrambles to his feet and is caught between Edward's legs.  
"It's obvious enough, darlin'." Edward's lisp-like voice made Louis' back shiver from an absent  
chill. "My brother said he'd make you an offer and I know he did. He drives a hard bargain, doesn't  
he?"

Edward found it _amusing_. Louis frowned and twisted his waist to weave his way out of  
Edward's enclosure. It hardly lasts more than the four seconds it takes Edward to stand and throw an  
arm over his shoulders.

"Maybe I'll pity you today but you should know that I'm very keen on claiming you as well."  
Edward's warm breath fanned Louis' cheek as he spoke from behind, their bodies aligned and  
pressed together at a slight angle over the table. "Petal, don't make this hard on yourself."  
Louis' never felt relief like this moment when Edward's crotch rubbed over him and held no bulge.

He sagged slightly against the man's chest, biting his lip until it felt like he was jabbing an open cut  
with salt. "I-I'm sorry."

To everyone else, Louis was street smart and tough. To these brothers, he had lose much of that  
bravado in favour of saving those very people.

Edward's smile widened from sly smirk to a smug grin. He had dimples too. He nuzzled Louis' neck  
on the opposite side from where he permanently scarred the boy, lowering his arm to wrap around  
Louis' waist. He exhaled loudly, at peace with Louis' presence.

"I take it Harry didn't answer any of your questions." Edward allowed Louis to stand leaning against  
the table because he sat and was at the perfect eye-level to control his actions. "Would you like me  
to?"

Louis has to file two extensive reports today, signed and dated with his initials. Either brother taking  
the time to answer mandatory questions set by the state would help him get things along much  
faster. "Okay."

While Louis extracts a booklet of paper from his black folder, Edward gets comfortable watching  
Louis under his scrutiny. He is careful about keeping his hands on Louis' middle region, or his  
thighs. He noticed how the boy would flinch but not fight him off. It was a breathtaking sight.  
"Go ahead, petal." Edward encouraged, feeling relaxed in this atmosphere where Louis felt it was  
charged with horrible chills.

Louis licks his lips and flips through some of the pages. "What's your daily routine here at the  
institute?"

Edward doesn't take more than a blink to think it through. "Three meals, five hours apart. Two  
showers, one in the morning and one at night. I spend all day in here, petal."

Louis transcribes everything up until the pet name. He's fine leaving that bit out. "Any recreational  
activities?"

"I use the gym seven times a week, two hour sessions."

His fingers race across the page to keep up with Edward's precise and apt responses. "Any dislikes  
you've developed here at the institute?"

"Plenty. Would you like to know a few?"

Louis nods cautiously, meeting Edward's eye over the top of his page and shrinking back a little.  
There simply can't be a soul out there more haunted and sadistic than Edward's.

Edward runs his tongue over his bottom lip, wetting the chapped cushion and sucking it between his  
teeth. A pointed tip of his canine cuts a small spot of skin but Edward doesn't seem to notice.

"The food is twice as deplorable as the people." Edward finally says, completely ignoring the  
droplet of dark red blood on his lips that's weighing down on his mouth. "Although, I do prefer  
most of people in here to the old bats outside. They're filled with nothing but beer and small-minded  
ideas."

"It's an old town." Louis mumbles, getting ahead of himself. He bites the inside of his cheek to  
punish himself for speaking when all it could do is get him whacked. 

"Well, there's that." Edward appreciates Louis' participation in the conversation and also notices the  
flow of a wince on and off Louis' face. "What did you do?"

Louis shakes his head and touches his cold cheek with his fingertips. It does nothing and Edward  
removes his hand with a steady scowl.

"Nobody will punish you but me." He gives Louis a serious deadpan. "You will not hurt yourself for  
any reason."

He may not have seen it before or the light bruise from Harry's hit just developed, because Edward's  
frown _lightens._

"My brother is taking advantage of the fact that I'd never raise a hand to him." Edward screws his  
jaw into a tight seal. "I might as well let him have his way."

Louis frowns at this. Will Harry's bipolarity and resultant abuse become a constant now? He doesn't  
think he can last longer than one incident before going crazy.

"Don't worry, petal." Edward goes on, voice sweet like honey and poisonous. "All you have to do is  
behave. Go on with your questions."

"What if-" Louis' filter has diminished. "-I don't know that I did something wrong?"

Edward smiles in the worst possible way. The tips of his teeth at the side are made clearly visible by  
the curve of his lips and he cracks his knuckles against his neck. "Go on with your questions, petal."

Louis gulps and sees no other road to take other than obey. He fills the silence in the room with  
another question of his, not daring to look up from his page all the while. "What issues do you think  
went unresolved?"

"What do you think, petal?"

_All of them._ "Do you think the-"

A heavy fist collides with the table and Edward stands up to properly close around Louis' personal  
space by squashing it. Louis' voice shook as it was cut off and they book look at the door to see if  
anyone's heard his barbarism. Louis' heart fails. What had he done wrong this time?

"I asked you a question, darlin'. Didn't I?" Edward resumes the grip Harry had on Louis' hair,  
knotting his extensive fingers between the locks of strong hair and tugging. "You'll answer any and  
all of my questions regardless of relevance. Understood?"

Louis can't nod because the fire of horror has tipped over and he feels like he's burning up from the  
inside out. His chest begins to heave and his mind is thrown into a million different routes.

Edward's holding his head so firmly that it's all he can do to whisper a broken, "Y-Yes."

Edward looks pleased then he just doesn't and Louis' fear returns to him like a missile pointed at his  
most vulnerable spot. "Whose mark is that?"

Louis is about to ask what he's talking to but Edward's hands clasp his shoulders and one slides up  
to his neck, the thumb not so gently caressing the hickie he has.

"If it was not my brother who put this mark on your body, tell me." Edward reinstated. He looked  
deadly serious.

"I-It wasn't Harry." Louis flinches ahead of time, his air pipes closing up completely as the light  
above their heads flickers.

"I won't punish you because I fully intend to punish the bastard who dared touch you." Edward was  
breathing heavily and his nostrils were flared, his true anger being conveyed in the most absolute  
way.

"No! No please." Louis shakes his head to add to the grandeur of his plea. "Don't hurt him."

Edward isn't impressed by loyalty and nobility because Louis wasn't being either of those things  
_for them._ His vision turns red with smouldering anger and heat. He hates this and he's going  
to end up hating Louis if he doesn't reign some of his madness in.

A mouth slams against Louis' fiercely. Louis makes a confused but scared noise mixed in one  
whimper, trying to turn away but left to choke on the air allowed to him by Edward when he's lifted  
and dumped onto the table. He hisses, the throb of his backside ruining the entire illusion of cold  
steel soothing the burn of earlier.

Edward's the one to discreetly check the door and simultaneously keep his mouth closed a little in  
the kiss. Everything about Louis screamed sensitive to him and contact with his sharper than  
average teeth could severely hurt the boy. He doesn't intend that for their relationship this early.  
Louis struggles only briefly when Edward starts to flatten him on the table, his arched back being  
pressed down by a firm hand. He chokes when he can't breathe and another body cuts off every  
contact with anything else. His hands are pinned and legs parted into a V.

"You will _never_ mention another to me." Edward's hot white branding iron eyes are  
scorching and delve into the soft satin of Louis' eyes easily.

To keep from crying, Louis pleads. "Please do-don't hurt me."

Edward's head tilts to the side like a sinister type of puppy. "Not now, I won't. You seem to like  
lovers who take you out so I have a plan to meet those needs."

Louis' phone buzzes and his eyes nearly bulge all the way out of his skull. He prays harder than  
anyone's ever prayed before, wanting it to not be Liam or Niall calling. He gasps upon the strong  
hand gliding down the length of his body to his posterior.

"I've been wanting to touch you here for a very long time." Edward abandons the phone in favour of  
squeezing one cheek through Louis' jeans. "It's as lovely as I imagined it. I want to see you naked  
on my bed."

The phone stopped ringing.

Edward could see the finest images already. He could see Louis on his bed, nude down to the  
beautiful layer of skin he's hiding now. He closes his eyes and takes a deep inhale of Louis' scent  
that's oddly tainted by soap. His fingers flex around Louis' thighs as he imagines Louis in a lesser  
clothed form. 

He touches all of Louis' pliant body, memorising the planes and curves with his hands. This is all  
his now. "You're going to have the hardest fuck of your life with me."

It's not an entirely pleasant image to Louis but he keeps his mouth shut and eyes on the cracking  
ceiling.

"I'm going to have my way with you." Edward promised like a hot seal on a scroll from centuries  
ago. "You'll learn to like it."

That's when Louis' spine bends in a perfect arch off the table, huffing a small discomfort and  
pushing Edward's shoulders to earn himself some space. Unfortunately, all that happens is his eyes  
rolling back slightly in an attempt to look away from the homicidal maniac groping Louis like he's  
starved. He catches a glimpse of the door and the guards on the other side, but they're not facing  
away.

They're looking through the window, right at their scene on the table, without reacting or making an  
effort to come in and help.

Edward notices this too and smirks evidently. "Everyone can be bought, petal. Everyone with a  
stomach and a family to support."

It's poetic and shouldn't be entirely true, yet it is because Louis is staring at the biggest form of  
evidence. The guards look away, taking Louis' hope with them and leaving him with a quivering lip.  
The atmosphere gets colder now that Louis knows he's been indirectly sold into this, and he flinches  
when Edward nears him.

"I can't say I'm entirely happy with my brother being so rough." Edward speaks in Louis' ear. "It  
takes away my opportunity to enjoy you too."

Louis can feel his head beating against the walls of his skull like a jack hammer gone mad, but he  
can't get the slightest feel of his fingers burying themselves in Edward's hair.

"We have over thirty minutes left." Edward reminded Louis with a quick swipe of his thumb nail  
over Louis' belly button. "Since we don't want to waste any time on our date later, I suggest we  
cover ground rules now."

Louis was allowed to sit up then. He pulled his legs onto the table as well, his back facing the door  
with a depressed hunch. He wanted as much of himself to be guarded from Edward so he crossed  
his legs in the centre of the surface.

When's he going to _say anything_? "What do you want me around so much for?"  
Edward considered his answer with a painstakingly long drag of his tongue over his teeth. "You're  
ours, in any and every regard."

"For how long?"

"Forever, petal."

"How many-"

"When did this become your opportunity to question me?" Edward raises his eyebrow tauntingly at  
Louis who had nothing to say to that. "Ask your last question."

Louis takes a hard gulp that causes his oesophagus some grief. "How many others are  
_'yours'_?"

"None." Edward's eyes unashamedly rake over Louis' body even after the boy curls up with his  
knees to his chest. "The day I pick someone over you, petal, or Harry does......-"

Louis is curious to know this answer, the completion of this sentence. Will he be tossed out? That's  
wishful thinking for him. Will they take a chance and kill him? Why would they?  
Why _wouldn't_ they?

"That'll be a day to see, darlin'." Edward's ambiguous continuation does nothing to slake the worry  
that's etched itself on Louis' brow. "Now what do we do for the rest of our time together?"

Louis rushes to reply with an answer that won't put him on his back. He remembers Edward  
speaking about rules but he doesn't want to go there now. "The rest of the questions?"

Edward is not disgruntled by this and Louis knows he hasn't done something wrong. "Go right  
ahead, petal."

With a small gulp of his nerves and reservations, Louis picks up his discarded papers. He opens his  
mouth for the next relevant question to be dictated but Edward interrupts him beforehand. His blood  
runs cold with the evil glint shimmering in the criminal's eye.

"Lie back." Edward even nudges Louis' tummy to emphasise his command. "Rule number one,  
petal, is that you never object to when I want I access to your body. Regardless of place or time  
when I need you to spread your legs or get on your knees, _you do it._"

The first rule gets Louis' heart racing to mad conditions. He can see the rise and fall of his chest,  
feel the crescendo of his pulse rate. What a disgusting rule, to a person whose utilised their dignity  
and rights to their full power earlier. Now he's made to be submissive and with no say.

"On that note-" Edward's shimmer becomes _blinding_ to the knowing eye. "-lie back on the  
table and part your knees. You can continue your questions."

"Ar-Are you going to-"

"I'm not going to hurt you." Edward deadpans, eyes tinted dark. "I'm the impatient one between my  
brother and I, petal."

That's enough motivation to get Louis' knees spread at a decent space and his back flat on the table.  
Edward is thrilled with this sudden show of obedience and hikes Louis' shoes up on the bench he's  
seated on.

"Question, petal?" Edward prompts with his fingers skimming over the tight fabric of Louis' jeans  
to pop the button holding it together.

Louis had forgotten about that. He grabs a page at random and reads. "U-Um....what do you  
_consider_-" His voice rises in pitch when Edward yanks his bottoms down to his ankles and   
removes them fully. He bites down on his lip to keep yet another cry from escaping it. He knew  
there's nothing to do but put up with it. "-to be conducive to any positive changed here?"

It was redundant. It was unfulfilling and oh so sinister. Louis' been played like a boardgame all this  
time to get him in this exact spot at this precise moment. People around him were unfaithful and  
leading him to a prison of blackmail and bribery.

He'll have to deal with it, put up with every antic and dark desire until he gets his loved ones out of  
town. Once they're far away - and he plans to use Liam as an assistant - he will get out of this  
himself. For now, with all his knowledge on what these brothers are capable of, he's not willing to  
risk any lives.

He also knows that if it were almost anyone else holding him openly hostage, he'd have a much  
easier time speaking up.

"That's an amusing question, petal, considering-" Edward makes Louis stifle a shout when he feels a  
chin being hooking on his thigh. "-our current situation."

Louis would like to point out that this position is not at all pleasant for him or conducive to any  
amount of sanity that can be recorded. He bites that comment and scribbles on a page, terrified of  
the moment Edward will move his chin to do something less acceptable.

During the next three questions, nothing happens as well and Louis manages to get out the door in  
such a hurry that he's not bothered about his unbuttoned jeans. He falls over in the garden and  
throws up all his food from the past twenty-four hours into the tulip plants, kneeling and dry  
heaving painfully until the gags begin to make his throat raw.

Tears sting his eyes and thoughts battling to get to the forefront of his mind all mess with his  
concentration. His body is racked with shivers and sobs, his spine just managing to keep him from  
falling into the sod face-first. He hugs himself because the secrets he's keeping are so powerful they  
might bust him open at the seams.

Thinking about being forced for the sake of everyone he treasures to submit to two mass murderers,  
makes Louis sick to his core. He's been betrayed for who knows how long, when the problem could  
have avoided early with the help of guards he learns that they weren't honest to him at all.  
What was he going to do? He had to figure something out before he lost too much of himself to be  
retrievable.

Louis hates himself all of a sudden. He recalls every conversation he had with the twins, separate or  
together, and not in a single one did he openly express - with words - how much he was unhappy  
with this. He merely kept quiet to remain unabused and listened to every word.

"Louis?" A voice of new descent interrupted his emotional bonfire.

Thinking the worst at first, Louis flinches as he gazes up in the general direction of the person. The  
sun may be at its dullest but it still stings the boy's weak eyes.

"Reverend James." Louis sighs in explicit relief and stands up wiping his lips. The taste in his  
mouth was absolutely foul. "What can I help you with?"

"I got a request for a homicide case concerning Edmund Hollick today from your mentor." The  
pastor with aged skin, freckles and a kind smile offered his hand to Louis. "I'd like to hear more  
about this."

Louis looks around them for a quick second while he settles his thoughts. "Um- I can speak to  
you.....in the courtyard."

"You're very spooked, Louis." He notes of the boy's mannerisms. "I know that visiting your two  
most notorious patients can't be something easy but it can't be enough to upset you."

"It is." Louis' mood turns bitter like the taste in his mouth. "I'm sorry you had to see that, Rev."

Reverend James shakes his head and puts an arm around Louis' shoulders. "Not your fault, son.  
Now, tell me about this Edmund debacle."

Louis takes a big breath before starting. He explains his suspicions about something malevolent  
carrying on in the Madhouse. He says that Liam will work for free, on his own time and not require  
anything from the fund sponsoring the Madhouse. Reverend listens and eventually gives his consent  
for the entire ordeal.

"I see." They've arrived at the water fountain where St Catherine stood offering sustenance to a boy  
carved from marble. "I'll have it signed and sent back to you. This might give us some light on poor  
Nicholas' case too."

* * * * *

It took a phone call from Niall to remind Louis that his mother was waiting to have their lunch date  
at their apartment, for Louis to pluck up the bravery to take a stand.

It's a bit of a bipolar thing he conjures up but there's not much else he can do when he's just eaten a  
doughnut from the staff kitchen and overdosed on caffeine to hopefully find a 'high' that would  
enable him to forget the touches that stuck to his skin like toxic chemicals.

First he thinks, the guards are two-faced and he doesn't trust a single one to protect him. If he files a  
complaint against them without evidence, the issue will be dismissed before he can blink twice. In  
order to get evidence he needs witnesses and the only witnesses he has are currently threatening the  
lives of his best friends.

He touches the mark on his neck and realises that the injury itself is evidence. He can acquire a  
restraining order with it, as offered by a concerned police officer at the time of its make. What will a  
restraining order do? It could get the twins away from him for a day and then make them jump right  
back on the game. Unless he diverted their attention and gave them something else to channel their  
energies on, something that would rescue him.

It's just after one when Louis walks into the solitary unit again. There were no scary incidents on the  
staircase and this time he's on the other side of the bars to keep his safety in check. He'll admit that  
something must be unconventional about him, to be back here and not on a flight back home to his  
father. 

"You're back, petal." Edward grins unabashedly with all the criminal youth he can muster to give  
him dimples.

"I told you he'd come back." Harry speaks from the other cell to where he's been moved so Louis  
can have this conversation.

Louis clears his throat. "Shut up."


	6. Chapter Six

**"I told you he'd come back." Harry speaks from the other cell to where he's been moved so  
Louis can have this conversation.**

**Louis clears his throat. "Shut up."**

***NARRATOR'S POV***

A frightening laughter erupts in the room. Like poison on the innocence of a child, it seeps into  
Louis' bones and turns them cold. He could close his eyes and place himself in the cemetery of  
murderers' graves, where blood lust was rife and every one of them was insane.

"What a beauty you are, petal." Harry extends his arm out between the firm steel bars. He licks his  
lips. "Come here and let me share in the taste of that."

Louis frowns in apparent disgust but learns how to disguise it a little better. "Not everyone wants to  
touched all the time, Harry."

Harry doesn't retract his hand, as the offer still stands, but his coy little smirk develops into  
something more vulgar and lascivious. "You're different."

Edward taps his fingernails, bitten halfway down to the stub until his flesh was pink, and exhales  
slowly. "I see beyond that, petal. You're scaring yourself under a bluff."

Louis' nose scrunches up at the ambiguous statement. _Bluff?_ "Your poetry is beautiful."

"So I've been told." Edward trails off and steps deeper into his cell, disappearing behind the curtain  
of black shadows. "So I've been told, petal."

"Wait." Louis stops either twin from walking away from this conversation before it's done.

"If you have nothing of meaning to tell us, petal-" Harry laces his fingers together through the cell's  
bars.

"-I suggest you get your beauty sleep before two o'clock." Edward's criminally sinister smirk  
deepened the dips on his cheeks.

It was adorable on toddlers and it was _creepy_ on fully grown twin brothers who had a lot  
more than simply a few skeletons to hide in their closets.

Louis decides to grovel at any information he can get concerning their plans for him later. If he can't  
hide from it, he can prepare for it.

"What's happening at two o'clock?" He crosses his short but not useless arms over his tummy,  
feeling the bruises from earlier press against his arms painfully. 

"Wouldn't you like to know." Harry rolls his eyes and steps back, closer to the locked compartment  
door that keeps him contained in a small solitary unit.

"I would." Louis insists stupidly.

"Bill!"

After Harry's shout across the hallway for the attention of one of the guards stationed in the  
reasonably sized booth that contained all the controls for these cells, there's an electric buzz and  
loud click. Harry's cell door slides open, drawing back on its hinges and easily gliding over a metal  
railing.

Harry steps out and takes a moment to crack the knuckles in his neck, not even looking over his  
shoulder at where Louis was frozen. He ignored his brother's disapproving grunt, before Edward  
withdrew to the black shadow curtain and he took the opportunity to round the corner.

"Your preview from earlier wasn't enough?" Harry's suggestive eyebrow curve and the tilt of his  
head like a curious puppy, all chip away at Louis' mental capacity.

He decides to stick with his original plan, or else suffer the consequences of cowardice. "It was  
hardly a preview, more like a short film."

Harry is impressed by Louis' responses and his ability to keep up without fear, after so many  
encounters where the boy simply surrendered to his fright. He smirks, an evil curl of his lips, and he  
leans a little forward to be close to this phenomenon.

An arm extends across his path, disarming that plan and cutting him off midway.  
"What?" Harry's annoyance skyrockets as he growls at his brother.

Louis' eyes dart from Harry to Edward once, the blue gateways widening to saucers of an odd girth.  
Edward kept his arm there, his back to Louis and body curved against the boy's side.

"Enough for today." Edward spares Louis a glance. "You'll see him again later. There's no need to  
terrify him."

Harry's face gets closer to Louis' but it stops at Edward's ear this time. Deep pits of ugly moss green  
remain glued to Louis' every facial twitch while he whispers something to his elder brother. The  
hand Edward had on the wall shifts to Harry's chest, fisting the shirt he wore to hold him back.  
Louis was astonished. He does not regret all the caffeine and glucose he consumed because _it  
got him this._

"You sure are a greedy bastard, Edward." Harry pushes himself back with a stealthy press of his  
palm against the wall.

He examines Louis' very intrigued personality glimpse and his brother's seemingly protective stance  
all in one glimpse. Louis doesn't understand what is happening, and why it's happening to him at  
this moment. Edward may be more passive about his aggression towards wanting to claim  
something, but he's still Harry's brother.

Being Harry's brother meant he had traits that his brother had, and judging by their older behaviour  
Edward had more of a manipulative way of getting what he wanted. 

Harry was brute strength and arrogance. Edward's power lay in his words and possessive gestures.  
"Maybe I am." Edward removed the arm he had barricading Louis' body and crossed it over his  
chest with the other. "We have less than an hour left in this place, let's not make it worse for  
ourselves."

That got Harry to back down significantly. He nodded in a stiff, curt way and dared to push his  
brother aside by a millimetre to press a cold kiss on Louis' cheek. His lips touched the artful  
cheekbone of the boy and they curved just slightly in a twitch of a smile, before retracting. Louis  
remained nailed to the wall and sucked in a sharp breath that stung his pharynx as he inhaled it. His  
skin crawled with contact from Edward or Harry, and now was no exception.

"Goodbye, petal."

The lights blacked out completely for just ten seconds, and when the light filtered back before Louis  
could conjure up a scream, both brothers are gone. Edward is in his cell, watching something crawl  
up the far wall and Harry is nowhere to be seen.

He forces himself to speak. "B-Bye."

* * * * *

Louis is a little tipped over on the skittish scale for the rest of the day. He jumps whenever someone  
touches him, either in passing or to converse with the like of him. He does count his most recent  
interaction with the twins as more of a success than any other meeting, which seems to be the only  
victory of today.

He phones his mother to promise that he'll see her at two for their lunch date. She's not happy about  
the postponement but she also gets very little say in anything anymore. Louis apologises and hangs  
up.

"Is your filing done on the twins yet?" Dr. Murs walks past his desk, throwing the reminder out  
there without a glimpse in Louis' direction.

"Almost!" The boy calls back. He's well aware how good the insulation of sound is in this office.  
Niall calls him every thirty minutes to make sure he's still breathing, which Louis appreciates.

"You know damn well how you working there makes me feel, Lou." Niall whines on the other end.  
"I worry about you."

"I'm fine, you know that." Louis sat curled up in his office chair, another large hoodie bloating his  
curves.

"No, I don't." Niall points out cheekily. "I'm working tonight and I'll only be back at six tomorrow."  
Niall's job at the local uptown pub with fancy lights, expensive drinks and snotty people has granted  
them a good enough amount of funds to not complain about it. 

"Fine." Louis bids him goodbye and good luck before hanging up the call.

He starts preparing the files that are necessary to be signed by every official who has worked with  
the Styles. His fingers hurt after typing so much, correcting erratum and dialling numbers to the  
police precinct for information. For a break, he takes a walk to the psychiatric ward where the sister  
in charge of rehab gives him Harry and Edward's full medical report.

"How's your neck, son?" She asks from behind her desk just before he touches the brass door  
handle.

Louis tenses and peeks over his shoulder at her concerned motherly expression. "Healing, Sister."

He's as sure as a box of dead kittens that he's not just referring to his neck when he said that.  
The paperwork is done by twelve minutes past two. It takes up two thirds of his desk and stands as  
tall as a small photocopying machine. It's done, however, and he's never felt so relieved.

"Come with me." Dr. Murs grabs one pile and motions for Louis to follow him with the other. "The  
reporters are here."

"What reporters?" Louis shouldn't be asking this. The discharge and release of both Styles twins  
into a town that both hates and fears them more than legend or myth, is said to be the most  
publicised occasion in all of Middleston's history.

Dr. Murs laughs and makes his way out of the locked office, guiding Louis and his stack of files to  
the reception. Louis gasps both in thrill and irritation at the sight of so many reporters standing  
outside at the base of the entrance staircase with cameras and vans.

"Will they stay for everything?" Eleanor asks while she sets and sorts the files given to her on the  
surface of her lobby desk.

"Yes." Louis sighs and unhooks the blinds shielding the doors. Flashes pick up immediately. "Damn  
reporters."

Dr. Murs phones the disloyal bunch of idiotic police officers down in the solitary unit to alert them  
of the fact that everyone would like to get this day done as fast as possible. After the Sheriff arrives,  
they need only wait twenty short minutes before both inmates are brought up and the doors fly  
open.

Officers - of actual responsibility - keep anyone from ascending the staircase. Louis ignores both  
brothers as best as he can whilst stepping out after Dr. Murs. He's horrified to hear most questions  
being posed to him, then him _and_ the twins once they appear.

"Louis!" One of the female reporters with bright red lips calls him. "Louis, which brother gave you  
the mark on your neck?!"

He gasps silently at the question, and in his attempt to turn away from them ends up looking at all  
the others prying for his personal information. Harry stood closest to him, with Edward on the other  
side. Both had endless smirks, ready to be shown on tomorrow's cover pages.

"Why, petal...-" Harry leans to his side, eyes becoming averted to Louis. "They're not as bright as  
they seem, are they?"

Louis, under other circumstances, would have giggled from the apparent amusement of the remark.  
Now, his stature is stoic and a little uneasy, however this time it's not because of either twin. All he  
gives Harry in response is a quick look and roll of his eye.

"Ignoring me now?" Harry doesn't seem interested in the dozens of eyes watching him. "Petal."

Louis glares at him. Harry chuckles and opts to advance in the boy's direction. Nothing violent is  
intended for after his handcuffs are removed he simply pulls Louis towards him.

"I hate being ignored, petal." He doesn't allow Louis to complain about the way he's pressed against  
Harry's side, with a firm arm circling his waist and arching his back.

More shouts and calls from both reporters and known associates alike are asking for them. Dr. Murs  
is shocked into disbelief and the Sheriff wishes he could do more than clench his fists. Nobody's  
allowed to antagonise the twins or offend them, both from moral fear of having someone they loved  
hurt with no evidence to get revenge, or being charged themselves under the umbrella of hate  
crimes.

"What are you _doing_?" Louis hisses, trying to pull away without ending up with a sore back  
from all the twisting.

"Be still, petal." Came Edward's voice from Harry's other shoulder. "We won't harm you here."

Louis stops his resisting but still removes Harry's hand when it hovers too close to his behind.  
"You'll harm me somewhere else?"

"Not in the way you seem to think we will." Harry whispers in his ear, eyes on everyone else to  
riddle their minds with jealousy and hatred. "Settle down, petal. Our fun's about to begin."

* * * * *

"What took you so long, Louis?" His mother was waiting at Mikky D's grill for the past half hour.  
She looks angry at having to wait so long without company, but makes no other noise of annoyance.  
Louis sits in the hard plastic chair, more than a little squirmy by the burn in his thighs and soreness  
of his bum.

"You're the only person in this town who doesn't know that answer." He sasses unintentionally.  
A quizzical look takes over her features, but she questions him no more. Louis is grateful as he  
hides behind his menu that didn't hold enough options to be appetising. His mind wandered back to  
the scene outside the Madhouse.

He now had a new date to look forward to, late in the afternoon at seven when the twins showed up  
at his door. After they'd released him and people were done regarding him like an alien, this he had  
been promised. Louis chewed his lip and had to agree, because Edward had bent down and feigned  
giving him a kiss while he whispered threatening words in his reddened ear.

"Let's eat." He shoves all that aside to summon a waitress. 

She takes her time walking over to their table, and for the first time Louis' mother knows it isn't her  
fault someone is disgusted by their appearance. Louis notes how the waitress by the name of Anne  
never looks him in the eye, but carelessly stares at the white gauze around his neck.

"Do you mind?" He finally becomes annoyed enough with her ill manners to point it out. "I'm not a  
walking freak show and I pay your salary. It would not kill you to show some courtesy."

Louis' mother is impressed but she let's him fight this battle, as she's always done to the degree of  
neglect. Louis hands Anne their menus and doesn't look at her again. The most surprising thing is  
when he gets up and walks out.

"Why'd you leave?" She asks when she catches him outside, standing with his hands in his pockets.  
"Never offend the person handling your food, mother." He brushes his fringe out of his eyes. "I gave  
her a piece of my mind and have no intention of staying here to hear hers."

"Where do we go then?"

Louis thinks about all the restaurants he's been to in Middleston. The tiny diners, local greasy pubs  
and other wonderful establishments. Niall will still be on duty at his job so he decides on that.  
They drive the two minutes of distance it takes to get there, and Louis jumps down from his too  
high vehicle and waits for his mother on the sidewalk, giving her a small but forced smile before  
going in. He holds the door open and purposely leads them to Niall's section.

Their booth is perfectly ideal. It's tucked away in a big corner with the largest couch to sit on around  
a table. Niall sees them come in, and leaves his conversation with a flirting investigator to happen  
by them. Not many customers are in at this very late lunch hour anyway.

"Hey, you two." Niall intentionally smirks broadly at his best friend and his mother. "What can I get  
ya?"

"Burgers and your greasiest fries please." Louis says immediately, no menu needed.

"Ginger ale or real alcohol this time?"

"Water." Louis takes Niall notepad for orders and writes it down himself, a tradition they've  
developed.

Louis' mom orders what she wants and turns back to her son after Niall meanders towards the  
kitchen. "I know I should probably know this but....why do you keep going back?"

"Back?" Louis raises an eyebrow. Then he figures it out. "Oh."

"Yeah." She crosses her legs under the table. "So why?"

"Because I have no need to go anywhere else." He says simply.

She doesn't need to know that if he doesn't go back, doesn't give in to every whim of the most  
despicable people in town, she'll have her body ripped apart. The image, the _possibility_, of  
such a thing happening to anyone he knows is enough to make him sick. 

Their conversation surprisingly never runs dry. Louis doesn't see their shredded relationship being  
repaired by a simple lunch date of burgers and chicken fillets, but it's enough for now. After eating  
Louis drives his mom to the hotel she's staying in.

"If you need me, call me." He tells her after she's gotten out.

"I will." She smiles, the awkward tension lingering above their communication.

Nobody knows of his plans for later - that's now two hours away - and he intends to keep it that  
way. When he gets home, exhausted and hungry, he spends half of that time eating a big meal. He  
knows not where the twins intend to take him, but he'd like to be prepared for anything.

He showers for a very long amount of unknown time, scrubbing his body until it's pink from heat  
and sensitivity. He hates that he's already hairless, which now takes away another reason to occupy  
himself. His outfit choice is nothing simple or intricate: black jeans, an unattractive but warm lime  
green knit sweater and black shoes. His hair is made to be the ideal medium between untidy and  
styled.

His doorbell rings twenty minutes before seven and Louis frowns, not comprehending why they'd  
be so early.

"Coming!" He's shouting it out before he can stop himself and cringe.

His sweaty palms are rubbed off on his pants. His mind is racing a million miles a second, with  
twice as many thoughts. He begins to fear the first that could come to pass from tonight. How will it  
start? Will it come to an end? How will that come to be?

He walks to the door with his phone in his hand, slipping into his front pocket. The latch comes  
loose and Louis stills in surprise at the face behind the door.

"Anthony?"

The man he met the day before who had a bigger heart than anyone Louis' ever known, stands there  
with a sheepish smile and single rose. Louis tries his best to not stare at it dumbly.

"Hello to you too." Is his response. "You cannot tell me you've forgotten our date when you're  
already dressed."

_Shit!_ "Anthony-"

"I'm going to have to cut this short, petal." After moving aside at the intrusion of a third voice, both  
Anthony and Louis get to see Edward leaning against the back wall with a dozen white roses.

"Excuse me?" Anthony isn't local and he doesn't recognise the face of a psycho when he sees one.

Louis' heart turns into an iron hot drum. If Edward knows what Harry promised, Anthony simply  
being here puts him in grave danger. He has to do something. Anthony seems to lose his well tanned  
complexion at the sight of Edward's teeth when the latter smirks.

"Shall we go now, petal?" Edward steps forward, shouldering past Anthony and invading Louis'  
personal space. 

Louis has to make a decision that's going to end in either death or heartbreak. He's far more  
prepared for the latter, and gives Anthony a terribly apologetic smile. He begs the man to not  
question this yet.

"Come in for a second." Louis grabs Edward's forearm with a trembling hand and yanks him  
forward.

The taller and broader individual gives way only when Louis tugs a second time. He slams the door  
shut in Anthony's confused, torn face.

"Petal, I'm disappointed." Edward sets the roses down and his eyes bore into Louis'.

They stand so close together, their bodies a sliver's distance apart. Louis' unafraid in the mask of  
worry. He studies Edward's unaffected composure, and how he doesn't do anything more than hold  
onto Louis' hips. It's an exceptionally tight grip that is bound to leave bruises.

"Don't tell Harry." Louis tells him, watching ardently as his expression changes to one of  
amusement. "Edward, _please_."

"My brother frightens you." Edward steps around Louis and pries the small hands off his suit jacket.  
"He'll be pleased to hear that."

"Edward-"

Edward turns around, his side against the kitchen counter and eyes darkening from the wheels of  
inner evil. "You seem to have this backwards, petal. You have no control over what I do."

"Please." Louis grovels, his desperation igniting the spark of his teary blue eyes. "You can't hurt  
him."

"Can't help you, darlin'. Let's just hope you make my brother happy enough tonight to forget about  
it."

* * * * *

The music is an intoxicating agent all on its own. There's surely alcohol in Louis' veins but it's on  
minimal levels, although all rational thought has flown out the window. Letting go has never been  
so easy.

After all getting drinks under Harry's credit card, they'd found a corner to sit behind the flimsy  
curtain of booths. The strobe lights were scattered and colourful, adding to the beautiful atmosphere  
of a club with sophisticated people. The wooden dance floor was not hazardous and people danced  
like no one else was around.

The air was thick. The mood was electric. The prices were too high and the shouting were all  
products of ecstasy.

Louis' not sure exactly when he got around to dancing in the eye of the mosh pit of people. It was  
somewhere between trying to escape the groping of his body and also trying not to escape because   
he had no idea where the door was. The former complaint had no improvement made unto it,  
considering there were hands on him now to keep him close.

Edward was not fond of dancing on any level besides dignified dancing, this Louis had learned  
upon drunkenly asking. Yeah, he vows to never consume alcohol ever again.

Harry was not one for dignity when it came to his petal. He ensnared the boy's slim hips in the web  
of his arms and kept their bodies pressed together in sinful proximity. He dropped his lips to Louis'  
neck and tasted every scent, every detail he could.

Neither of them knew the song that was playing, but Louis is fairly certain it's a remix. He had no  
choice but to hold Harry's arm that stuck to his tummy, or risk falling forward. When his head felt  
too heavy, he'd lean back against Harry and feel the heat of bare skin on him.

"You're a true temptation when you move, petal." Harry's wet lips drag across the spot below Louis'  
ear, making him shiver and close his eyes.

"Thanks." Louis smiled in his dreamy state, imagining Harry wasn't a threat to his sanity.

Harry's hand slipped lower and finally under. Louis' nails dug deep into the man's skin when he felt  
a bare hand, calloused and not gentle, slip under his sweater. The hand thumbed over the softness of  
his tummy, and the owner's mouth began a path down the side of his throat. Louis' neck had to  
stretch to the side, and instead of pain it made his chest burn with pleasure. Damn alcohol.

"Move for me, petal." He whispered deeply, darkly and warmly like honey on Louis' skin.  
Louis tries his best and does. He huffs when it's near impossible to move when Harry's arms have  
him caged. He tries adjusting the grip but it's futile for the man just tightens up and touches more of  
Louis' bare skin under his top.

With the space so dark, Louis hardly sees more than the glint of Harry's eyes when he turns his  
head. Harry catches him looking and lowers his lips to Louis'.

They don't touch, the mint of Harry's lips grazing the tangy flavour on Louis'. "Would you like a  
little motivation?"

As he asked, his hand was raised to curl around Louis' neck. His thumb rubbed over Louis' pulse  
point with a little more pressure than the rest of his hand. He _won't_ admit that the squeeze  
made him a little hotter. Damn bloody alcohol.

"Look at all these people watching you, petal." Harry uses his incredibly well managed grip on  
Louis to angle his vision.

Louis hadn't noticed so many watching, staring. They look away when he finds them but they've  
been spying for who knows how long. It makes him uncomfortable.

"They're all watching you be a slutty little petal for me." Harry's poisoned words were no better  
than what Louis' saying to his bruised ego. "Let's not give them a show, darlin'. You're my petal,  
aren't you princess?"

Louis' mind goes blissfully blank and oh _God_ he hates himself so much.   
Without knowing how he got there, Louis finds his back being torn up by a cold alley brick wall  
while Harry fucked into him with animalistic thrusts. They were rough and harsh, slamming into his  
special spot or sliding against it all with excellent precision.

"Louder, petal." Harry's hand crept up the plane of Louis' neck and his fingers pulled on the boy's  
lips.

He got past the barrier when Louis gasped from a particularly wild thrust and Harry's fingers found  
themselves blocking some of Louis' air intake. The latter choked at the salty taste of skin but kept  
the tears stinging his eyes at bay.

His body jerked and head weighed heavy. He held on tightly, hanging off the man's shoulders while  
his body was rocked mindlessly.

His cries filled the dark alley, when Louis realised the safest place to be was in the arms of a  
monster. "_Har- Harry!_"

Harry growled and Louis' head hit the wall. His hips slammed into Louis', between his quivering  
thighs and hard bone on soft skin. "Careful now, my pet."

Louis' whole body began to shake. He couldn't control the erotic twitches running mad throughout  
his body, lacing his veins with something light and _alluring_.

_Bloody alcohol._

"Not my name." Harry had to take advantage of the fact that Louis was communicating during sex.  
"You won't call me by my name."

This astonished Louis. He had no idea what this new development would mean. He squirmed and  
began to feel the fire inside his libido make his body restless, like embers beneath his skin.

"What-" Louis choked on his own intake of air. He arches his back to push off the wall but Harry  
applies pressure to his abdomen and forces him back. "_Ah!_"

Harry held Louis' jaw in a powerful grip. His eyes, void of compassion and onyx black with little  
sparkle, dug deep to burrow a home for his demons in Louis' heart and soul.

"Try again." Harry was made out to sound more lethal than he meant. When Louis didn't respond  
because of the undying, unrelenting pressure on his hidden sweet spot, Harry grinded harshly. "Try  
_again._"

Louis sputters and fears that he's losing the thrum of reassuring alcohol in his veins. He would hate  
to see that go when that's all that's keeping him mobile.

"Would you like a hint?" Harry was unfairly composed during this time, and he took the effort to  
clasp the side of Louis' face and press beneath his cheekbone. "Speak up, petal."

Harry's harsh appeal tore through Louis' arousal like daggers. He snuck his hand between them and  
yanked, making Louis scream from a burst of pleasure and pain. "Yes!"

"The magic word?"

Louis stares directly into the fire that demons dance around in Harry's eyes. "Yes please."

Taking great pleasure in knowing and witnessing how absolutely wrecked his darlin' is, Harry  
started to thrust again. He held the wall on either side of Louis' head and made his thrusts as brutal  
as his intentions.

Alleys have long since become hideouts for people who were in public and in too much need for  
another body to lessen their lust with. As much as the possibility of others hearing and/or seeing  
them was present, the uncaring persona existing in Harry together with Louis' muddled focus left  
them not too concerned.

"It starts with a D." He trails his finger down Louis' clavicle. "Then an A and another D....-"  
Slipping underneath the layer of clothing, Harry tweaks one of Louis' sensitive nipples. "Take a  
guess, darlin'."

Louis _gets it_. "Daddy."

"Louder."

"Da-_Daddy!_" He shouts it from the top of his lungs, unable to hone in his voice and speak  
softly.

Harry tangles his fingers in Louis' hair and tugs. "Good boy. You're going to be good for me." Harry  
lowered his mouth to the lobe of Louis' ear, closing in on the boy to hide him and keep him  
prisoner. "Aren't you, darlin'?

Louis screams and scratches, his lip and skin being bitten where the white bandage didn't cover. He  
made very loud, very high-pitched 'uh' sounds. He's not sure why he's not resisting all this, but he  
pushes that away too because the pounding he's getting is pretty damn amazing.

He blames the alcohol for shutting everything out and shedding a warm light on Harry. His hands  
hold onto the man on their own accord and his thighs jerk from the fluidity of Harry's thrusts. The  
man's large hands grip the flesh of his thighs, exposing more of him in the darkness of a dingy  
alleyway.

Louis' eyes shut forever and his mouth becomes agape. Harry cares not about kissing him, and his  
hips begin to pivot in a mad attempt at being sheathed in the warmth and sweetness that was his  
petal. He was close to his climax when he slid in once and stayed there, nailing Louis' body to his  
and rounding his hips. Cut off breathless noises came from Louis, his abused prostrate protesting  
but craving the burn of Harry milking it for pleasure.

Spasming from white pleasure, Louis comes all over his bare front and clenches down so hard on  
Harry that he groans when the man moves just slightly. He curses under his breath and feels warmth  
seep into his body, into his most private area when Harry orgasms over his bare thighs.

"Mm, petal." Harry drops Louis' legs so he's standing on his own two feet. "I bet your voice is raw."  
Louis wants to bring up the fact that it's not just his voice that's _raw._ He sags against the wall  
after putting a stray tissue to use instead after pulling his jeans back up, buttoning just one metal tab  
instead of all. He's too exhausted with the energy reserves he had pre-alcohol consumption than  
now. Definitely. 

"We're going back inside." Harry tells him, sweet as custard and cold as ice. He closes in on Louis'  
space when the back exit opens for a few workers to get off their shift, either shielding or merely  
selfishly hiding Louis from them. "But first.....-"

Harry stood a few inches taller than Louis and he had to lean at an angle to be close enough. Louis  
peered right back up at him, eyes wide and wet. He chose not to say anything, even when Harry  
traced his lips with a rough fingertip and parted his lips on purpose.

Louis' eyes fluttered and closed, shutting the cold air out before they flew open again at the feel of a  
tongue sliding against his own and lips sealing over his mouth. He made a very disgruntled sound  
and was shoved back into the wall for it.

Harry kept his hips pinned to the wall, his fingernails raking up the boy's thigh and his waist to  
leave scratches behind. He groaned into Louis' mouth at the taste of sweet alcohol. His arm  
wrapped around Louis' neck and kept the boy on his toes, his own neck tilted forward.

"You better get all your kissing done now, petal." He hardly drew back to speak against Louis' lips.

"My brother doesn't kiss anyone."

Louis positively _won't_ think to confess that Edward and he did in fact share in a kiss. It was  
a risky one, he'll admit.

It's almost like the boy doesn't even hear what Harry said. Louis doesn't know why he let's himself  
be treated this way, but maybe the alcohol will help him get some answers. "Why'd you pick me?"

The soft voice of question rang in Harry's head as he released Louis and stepped back. "Don't ask  
me that."

Louis frowned, greatly confused. "Why not?"

Harry let rip an inhuman sound that should be coming from a creature that's been cornered and  
threatened. It scares Louis enough to have him back down and nearly trip on his venture towards the  
wall. Harry likes this response as it puts him back on top, and he takes a stride forward.

"Don't ever ask me that." Harry's eyes could slice stone with how sharp they were. "In fact, don't  
ask me _anything_ if it doesn't have the word Daddy attached to it."

To a psychologist, this should be a gold mine of information. There's so much to know, to learn  
about the Styles twins when all they wanted was to hide and push everyone away. Louis had two  
motives and he didn't know which one was more convincing.

He could stick around for the livelihood of his friends and family, or do it just because they've  
gotten him stuck in a mud pile of secrets.

"Back inside, petal. Move." Harry grabs Louis' wrist and pulls him along the path back indoors.  
The rain has picked up once again and Louis narrowly avoids having the tail of his sweater soaked  
when Harry pulls him in, one fluid motion that could dislocate his wrist but ends up pressing their  
chests together. 

Louis is caught off guard by this circumstance. The club lights and charged environment, people  
bumping into them and several bodies passing by them. The music is possibly twice as loud now  
that Louis' experienced a muted version from without.

Harry frowns at Louis' shy stance, pressed up against him for no other reason than there's no space  
to _move_ in here. Louis catches him staring and looks away, his skin turning neon blue and  
thin bottom lip disappearing as he sucked it between his teeth.

"Go find Edward, petal." Harry instructs him with his gaze flickering from person to person with a  
devil's threat in his eye.

As much as Louis dislikes being held by someone like Harry, he'd much rather not be thrust into a  
crowd of sweaty strangers with more vivid fantasies.

"Go on." Harry pats Louis just above the swell of his bum. "No one's going to bother you when you  
belong to us, darlin'."

Louis' expression winds up with rolling eyes and his body pulling away from Harry's. He gets  
sucked into the crowd that's separating their pairing from the bar counter where Edward was silently  
keeping to his thoughts. Everyone who breezed past glanced, which turned into staring, then openly  
gawked before gossiping to their friends about how 'The Edward Styles' was being all alone.

Louis took a while after wading through a sea of bodies, to observe this. He felt pity well in his gut  
when groups of people would walk by like Edward - with his back turned of course - was a freak  
show. He watches a trio of girls giggle in mocking as they pass by, before deciding it's enough  
cruelty.

He believes in rehab because that's his job, and in the midst of his fresh start Edward didn't deserve  
this. That, he figures, is his third motive.

"They're looking at you." Louis tries not to limp over to the seat next to Edward, and rather  
gracefully waddles over.

Edward straightens his back, squares his shoulders and gives Louis a once over. It's magical how  
they manage to get their eyes to be so black, the greatest ever contrast to the paper whiteness of  
their skin. He hasn't had much to drink considering Louis last saw him with the glass of Bourbon  
brimming, though now it's hardly skimming the rocks. He kept his lips sealed and expression  
unreadable.

He turned back around to watch the cabinet of alcoholic beverages, removing Louis' feeling of  
dejection by speaking up. "There have been three bartenders behind this counter in the past thirty  
minutes. One was more concerned about his expensive course textbooks to notice that his sixth  
customer gave him a tip big enough to cover those. The current female one is hornier than a cat in  
heat." Edward turns his attention back to Louis after that speech. "Do you really think I didn't notice  
the herds of neanderthals watching me?"

And well, Louis didn't mean to need to look at the ground to hide his smile. Damn alcohol, he  
swears it. "How much doesn't it bother you?"

"Are you asking as my psychologist or as my petal?" Edward grabs Louis' arm to the sound of a  
sudden squeak and hauls him onto his lap. The lift is higher off the ground for Louis but there's no  
way down unless he hops over Edward. 

"Well-" Louis grips the glass counter top with moving objects beneath the heavy sheet. "-I'm no  
longer on duty."

He gulps when he feels a pair of lips on his shoulder, remembering Edward's words from earlier.  
He's sat on his lap when he wanted to be next to him. He can't squirm if he starts to slip, which he  
inevitably does. Edward takes it in his stride and wraps his arm around the boy's waist, drawing him  
back against him slowly.

"_Well_, petal-" Edward drums his fingers in a one-two-three rhythm on the boy's waist. "-I  
don't give a flying fuck."

Louis giggles. He didn't mean to and when he checks himself, Edward's observing him like a  
strange artefact. Louis looks away first and Edward squeezes his hip.

"I've decided something." Louis snaps back to look in Edward's direction. Green lights add a  
haunting appeal to the sharpness of Edward's teeth, his eyes now officially as black as coal.  
"What?" Louis entertains his statement, stiff as a lamp post in the man's lap.

Edward catches the eye of several people walking by, no longer bothering with being discreet as  
they take turns whispering about the unfortunate boy in the town psychopath's lap. Louis doesn't  
care for them and the way they unnerve Edward doesn't show.

"Remember when I told you so...._confidently_ that you'd crave what I had to give some day?"  
Edward never acts mindlessly, and the half-moon shapes he's drawing on the counter top next to  
hand must have significance.

Louis remembers that day as crystal clear as LED. He nods stiffly and bravely looks up into  
Edward's eyes. "Y-Yes."

"No need to be frightened, petal." Edward's face is suddenly buried in Louis' neck away from the  
damaged tissue area. "Don't you have faith in your mentor's rehabilitation techniques?"

Louis runs his hand through Edward's hair and he gets enough scowls, glares and wide eyes from  
the general public for it. He pulls Edward out of his neck-shoulder junction. He plays the game on  
their court by resting his forehead with a painful thump against Edward's.

"After taking all our encounters into consideration, you'll have to forgive me for doubting them."  
He wished that whispering so lowly wasn't sufficient for Edward to hear him.

Edward's dimples resurface after their aestivation period. He beams and it's a God awfully terrifying  
sight, with deadly sharp teeth behind perfectly plump lips. The gum at the apex of Edward's teeth  
were redder than the rest, and made to look black along with his eyes and lips in the club tonight.  
His pearly white teeth flashed green, blue then red.

Louis' slightly drunken mind takes him back to his teenage years when he watched _Sinbad_  
with Niall and the cartoon sirens had exactly the same dental structure.

"As I was saying-" Edward has to keep a leg propped up on the bar stool's thin steel bar so Louis  
doesn't slip off him. "-what I promised then I will be upholding now."

Louis shifts his eyes back to Edward from where a brunette and her red-haired friend were watching  
them with open expression of irritation. _Is this a regular thing for the brothers?_

"Meaning?" He asks.

"I won't be touching you until you beg me to."

Louis blinks at him like he's not real, then raises his eyebrow at the contact they have now.  
"Without clothing, petal." He elaborates, drowning the last of his beverage.

"Why?" Louis is _plenty grateful_ for this understanding but there's also the nag of an average  
person in his conscience wondering why.

Edward chuckles, revealing a peek of a canine as he summons the horny bartender and whispers  
'Watch this' in Louis' ear. The boy has a hard time obeying but he pretend to be highly occupied by  
what he has deduced to be fish beneath the counter swimming in illuminated water.

"Hello, love." Edward's accent thickens as he addresses the bartender with three popped buttons on  
her blouse and cleavage that's spilling out into the cup she's holding. "Can you fill this up for me?"

Louis is strictly not biting his lip to keep his giggle contained because that's rude. He should  
probably be worried about the bartender getting more than she bargained for but Edward can't  
exactly try anything with another person on his lap.

"Sure thing, doll." She winks and walks away with an extra sashay of her hips.

When she's gone, Louis looks up. "Your point being?"

Edward laughs and slides off his chair, taking Louis with him and leading him towards where  
everyone was adjusting their heartbeats to the tracks of the DJ.

"Your drink?" Louis looks back at the empty seat they've abandoned when he's pulled against a hard  
chest.

"Shh." Edward circles his waist with one arm and his lips were mouthing their way across Louis'  
shoulder.

Louis watches the bartender fuss about the drink she's making, go to give it to where she thought  
Edward would be and frown to herself before consuming it herself. Louis imagines she must be a  
very insecure person.

"I thought you didn't dance." Louis catches people moving away from them, making not nice faces  
as they did.

"Maybe you could teach me."

Edward's hand slid all the way down but skipped Louis' behind and glided over to his opposite hip.  
With that grip, he spins Louis around harshly until they're back-to-chest and Louis is faced with a  
mirror image of Edward.

"Missed me?" Harry smirks, a formidable icon in this hazy atmosphere as he sandwiches Louis in.  
"He didn't." Edward answers for Louis. 

Harry looks at his brother in dismay but doesn't comment. He hopefully gets his revenge by  
swooping down and smashing his lips against Louis', taking full advantage of the fact that he has no  
reservations about kissing the pretty boy. He breathes heavily through his nose and secures one side  
of Louis' face, licking into the boy's mouth.

"If you're done being childish." Edward saves Louis from not being able to inhale air when he pulls  
him back.

Harry just licks his lips and winks when he sees Louis biting his own. Louis frowns and turns to his  
left, where - big surprise - people are staring with gaping jaws.

"Petal." Edward barks. "If you give them your attention one more time-"

"-I'll have to take you to the alley again." Harry finished for him. Maybe they forgave each other's  
shortcomings that quickly all the time.

"Is it a regular thing?" Louis asks instead of listening to their instruction, tasting alcohol that he  
hasn't drunk in his mouth. "Them staring at you?"

"Yes." Edward answers.

"Doesn't it-"

"It doesn't matter, petal." Harry growls, Edward's arm going rigid around Louis. "They can't act on  
it so pay them no mind."

It takes a small nudge of Harry's hand on Louis' behind to get him to turn away. When the song  
changes, Louis watches Harry go to bar and return with small glasses of what he's certain is not  
water. He's fed two of the five before he can protest, burning his throat on the way down.

The next thing he knows is his body is being moved for him, swayed left and right between two  
bigger bodies that hold him against them. The night's not going to get any better if he doesn't try to  
enjoy himself so his hands move on their own accord, one clasping the back of Harry's neck and the  
other getting in a grip with Edward's.

Music only filters into their private bubble. Harry discarded the glasses a long time ago and would  
bury his identity in Louis' neck before grinding forward. Louis would always be breathless by the  
end of it. Edward stuck to roaming Louis' thighs, touching and squeezing through the fabric of his  
jeans while moving the way Louis did.

It just started to get a little better for Louis when something cold and wet spilled down his side,  
effectively wetting all that he's wearing with the stench of sweetened alcohol. Harry took a step  
back, his glare evidently depicting his displeasure, and Edward groaned as he examined the  
damage.

The club stopped for a reaction.

"I'm fine." Louis tells Edward, pulling away when the latter kept on frowning at the large stain  
down his waist. 

The person responsible stood there looking apologetic. Louis recognised her as one of the girls from  
the giggling bunch who walked past Edward at least three or four times.

Harry spoke first, a roar leaving his throat instead of a normal voice. "Why'd you do that?"

It's a simple enough question but the culprit in a skimpy black dress doesn't seem to be expecting  
that. Her boyfriend from not too far away decides to step in anyway.

"Just back off, psycho." He spat drunkenly, reeking of booze and cheap perfume. His beach blond  
hair swept across his forehead, above the eyes he used to scan Edward then Louis.

Edward pulls away from Louis to step around and ahead of him, fucking pissed off his rationale that  
someone would insult his brother for no reason. Louis holds him back and Edward could  
absentmindedly have snapped his wrist, against his nature, when pushing the boy off him.

"Stop please." Louis tugged on his arm, pleading to keep any violence at bay. "Don't do this  
tonight."

Harry looked back at Louis and gave him a prize-winning smirk. "They asked for it, petal."


	7. Chapter Seven

**"Stop please." Louis tugged on his arm, pleading to keep any violence at bay. "Not  
tonight."**

**Harry looked back at Louis and gave him a prize-winning smirk. "They asked for it, petal."**

***LOUIS' POV***

The bed I wake up huddled into is my own and I'm naked down to my tight little black boxers. My  
head was heavy and thumping along to an external beat that was crushing my skull bit my bit. I  
groaned and covered my head with one of my three pillows, hoping to block out any noise from  
worsening my mild hangover.

My body was sore and not in any pleasurable way. I felt like every muscle in my body was strained  
and stretched like butter too thinly over the driest toast ever. My throat was powdery dry and I didn't  
dare speak to test my voice. The events of last night come flooding back to me in a hurry to make  
me nauseous, except no alcohol comes up and I'm left with a disgusting taste in my mouth.

_"They asked for it, petal." Harry had given me his most dazzling smirk, probably one that  
belonged on magazine covers._

_I remember trying to stop him by gripping his right wrist, but he swung with the left. It landed  
on the obnoxious teenager's jaw with a fierce enough force to send him stumbling back. His jaw had  
to be dislocated with the amount of blood gushing over his lips, black in the nightclub's awful  
lighting setup._

_I'd pleaded with them - both of them - to put an end to this because I was perfectly alright.  
Edward had pulled me aside and pressed me against a wall. I still feel that cold harshness of his  
eyes boring into my softest core, his fingers digging like thorns into my hip and thigh. Then he  
grabbed the girl by her hair.___

_ _ _"Settle down, pup." He had told me, the burn of his voice like lava to my sensitive nerves. "He's  
putting on a show just for you."_ _ _

_ _Now, I felt like I'd taken a clenched fist to the inside of my own skull. I cringed at all the  
happenings of the previous night, wisely choosing to push them aside for the short time it takes me  
to get myself ready for a new day. The smell of synthetic over-sweet citrus is infecting my nasal  
passages and putting me close to a gagging mishap._ _

_ _I had to work today on this fine Wednesday but I'd be a lot late considering I received official  
permission to wait for Liam. Another thing I groan and fall back onto the sheets about.  
When I toss my covers back, the crinkling of something stiff and papery catches my eye. I fold my  
legs under me as I sit up and grab the folded piece of paper with - why couldn't I predict this - a rose  
petal from the bunch I got yesterday placed atop the flap._ _

_ _ _What the Hell is that orange smell?_ _ _

_ _The writing is as eloquent as the speaker, cursive script from margin to margin in deep black ink._ _

_ _ **Petal,** _ _

_ _**We'll be seeing you again on your last day of work this week. Pack a bag for the weekend and  
dress formally. Your friend, Anthony, is safe until such time as you should disobey this letter.**  
Another groan of frustration. I scream into my pillow with my face smashed painlessly into it,  
clutching at the sides viciously. The letter wasn't even signed so I don't know which brother wrote  
it, though I'm sure they both contributed to the threat behind it._ _

_ _More of last night comes back to me as flashing video images. I decide to stay in bed and lament a  
little longer, just as bare feet wander across the hallway to the bathroom. Niall's awake and living  
blissfully ignorant. I want to rewind time to two years ago when I chose the place of my residency,  
put myself in Seattle or London instead._ _

_ _ _When Harry grabbed her, the girl who purposely spilt her drink on me choked and stumbled. It  
was the worst thing I've ever witnessed - besides my own nightmarish encounters with the twins.  
Harry's hand was around her throat and nobody tried to stop him, nobody helped her._ _ _

_ _ _I didn't want to see what Harry looked like in this beastly condition. Edward kept me as his  
prisoner, sandwiched between the wall and his body. I tried stepping aside when he slipped one of  
his legs between mine and did nothing else. It was simply a technique to get me to stand still and  
stop my squirming._ _ _

_ _ _"Hush now, petal." He spoke at my temple, brushing the other side where my hair was  
everywhere. His nimble fingers pushed them back behind my ear and his thumb came to rest on my  
cheek._ _ _

_ _ _I didn't listen because I couldn't take my eyes off the scene unfolding behind his back. I didn't  
care when I was using his shoulders to lift myself higher and didn't care when he responded by  
using both his hands to cup my behind. His chin was tipped over my shoulder, his eyes closed by  
the way they don't move against my skin._ _ _

_ _ _Harry turns his attention to the jock on the floor. I'd assumed the poor lad was a jock by his  
varsity jacket, speaking wonders of his future at a college far away from this tiny town. It's evident  
that he doesn't care about his 'girlfriend' enough to try saving her again. When he sees Harry  
holding the girl by the back of her neck, her hair tangled in his grip, he stands away._ _ _

_ _ _The girl looks absolutely horrified as she looks from her worthless friends and her eyes even  
land on me for a short moment. I wish I could do something just because she has no idea what's  
headed away but the selfish, self-preservation crazy part of me is a hopeful. That part of me hopes  
that Harry's found someone else to call petal and darlin'._ _ _

_ __I could have cried from kicking-and-screaming fear or malevolent joy when he kisses her._  
Niall banging on my - unlocked - bedroom door throws me out of my mind. I scramble to hide the  
note and stretch while casually responding with a racing heart. "C-Come in."_ _

_ _"What is _this_?!" He barges in, bed hair on his head and a small crease on his cheek from his  
favourite pillow._ _

_ _He's holding a bouquet of white roses, only a little wilted at the tips and still wrapped in crinkly  
transparent paper. That ever racing heart of mine finally makes a leap onto my tongue.  
"Aw, Ni." I crawl to the edge of the bed and take the roses. "Thank you."_ _

_ _"Fuck you, Tomlinson." He kitten glares at me. "Who gave them to you? Did you have a date? Why  
was I not informed?"_ _

_ _One who did not inform Niall James Horan of having a date when one has known Niall for over a  
year, is writing a death wish. I really should have known better. I'm not smug in the slightest that  
this case is a special one and the only reason my best friend is here yelling at me is because I'm the  
mouse to two psychotic cats._ _

_ _"No date, I swear." I lie outright. "Bought 'em for myself."_ _

_ _"Why?" He blinks, unfazed. I fear that he'll see through my act._ _

_ _"Saw 'em on that old lady's cart. You know the one between third and sixth street? I felt sorry for  
her and bought them."_ _

_ _There's no woman on third and sixth street._ _

_ _"What the Hell were you doing on third and sixth street?" He fires back, crossing his arms._ _

_ _"Got lost."_ _

_ _"You got lost?"_ _

_ _"Yes."_ _

_ _"In this fuckin' town, you got lost? It's like getting lost in a shoebox."_ _

_ _"It's a very big shoebox." I frown and mumble. I'm beginning to doubt whether there's a third and  
sixth street._ _

_ _Niall loosens up - at last! - and gives my forehead a kiss. "Get up, ya lazy arse. You have work."_ _

_ _He's gone in the next thirty seconds, taking my roses with him. I hadn't expected him to grab them  
and a few petals fell onto my lap, making me pick at them until the white contrast to my tanned leg  
irritated me. My thoughts were the only escape._ _

_ _ _The way Harry kissed her made me grateful. Not that he kissed her and not me, but grateful that  
I still had my lips after having them smashed against his so many damn times. The cold, thin and  
still choking air didn't last long over every head present. It throttled me long before Edward's hand  
came up to cup the back of my head, keeping me against him like he's caging me in._   
_I figured out why too late for anyone's good._ _ _

_ _ _"Stop! Let me go, Edward!" I started struggling again when there was more than tears flowing  
down the girl's face._ _ _

_ _ _Edward held on with a tighter grip, as he had prepared for my resistance before I knew it was  
coming. He kept his face buried in my neck, allowing me to stew in agony when I could witness  
everything but not help her._ _ _

_ _ _The girl victimised by Harry was sobbing and shoving the man away but God knows Harry is  
stronger than the maddest man. He kept his mouth on hers until a small something began to tug on  
the corners of his mouth, now stained black by the blood between them. He was biting her._   
_The streams of tears mixed with blood as the club began to erupt in terror. Everyone wanted out,  
to leave but the stampede got nowhere. Harry bit down on the poor girl's upper lip until his teeth  
tore through and blood gushed out from the injury._ _ _

_ _ _She could not be helped because nobody was brave enough. I eventually sagged into Edward's  
hold, relying on him to hold me up as he did. My horror remained glued to the scene of Harry until  
he finally withdrew and spat on the ground._ _ _

_ _I don't know what happened to the girl he attacked so animalistically. I feel a sickening headache  
coming on everytime I tried to remember details beyond that moment so I stuck to not doing so.  
Because of the previous night's pattern of foul events, I've successfully come to the conclusion that  
the town was too shit scared of the Styles brothers to act against them. The oldies anyway,  
youngsters tended to take several jabs at them which led to them being wheeled away by the fearful  
elderly. Now, nobody was going to do a damn thing to them._ _

_ _The police? I don't remember if they showed up and if people made statements. I don't want to ask  
but such an incident can't remain silent. Will everyone keep quiet about it? What about the girl?  
If I had to summarise my life up to this moment, I'd have a Hell of a time doing it. I'm casually  
stalked/ wooed by two psychopathic twin brothers. I have a job at the asylum that's recorded in  
Guinness for the most amount of reversible recoveries. My salary is half of the funds in my bank  
account, and the other half comes from a father I haven't seen in eight months. My mother is a crack  
whore. _ _

_ _My best friend is a hard worker with a gambling problem, and I've just invited an  
investigator from Detroit to come look into the murder of a man that wasn't even my patient.  
Yup. I shove that all away in favour of a long, hot shower that leaves every reflective surface misted  
over and unable to see through. It's delightful. I scrub my body like I _want_ the skin to peel  
off along with the awful, awful memories that clung to it. The essence of someone else was always  
sticking to my most private areas and no amount of Protex would erase it._ _

_ _I slipped on faded navy slacks over my boxer briefs and went nude otherwise, my skin still damp  
and the thin fabric got damper at those regions. Walking barefoot all the way down to the kitchen, I  
greet Niall who is very engrossed by the works of JJ Abrams. The fridge light comes on as I open  
the damn heavy door, scratched my tummy out of habit._ _

_ _"We got any-" Niall is interrupted by the doorbell while I sniff some suspicious looking éclairs._ _

_ _My heart stops beating as he goes to answer it, ahead of me when I shout for him not to. The  
muscles in my neck are close to spasming as my head snaps in that direction. There's a shriek  
followed by a squeal that does not belong to a grown Niall Horan, and I dash out of the kitchen only  
to slam into the doorway dry wall as I come to a halt._ _

_ _The danger is nil and I exhale a long draw of relief. Niall is just wrapped all the way around a very  
stunned Liam Payne. The latter is fish-mouthing in confusion, clutching a jar of Nutella very tightly  
in his right hand._ _

_ _"Um." Liam looks to me for some form of help. _ _

_ _I snort. Amateur._ _

_ _Taking three large strides, I lift the burden of the Nutella jar from Liam the detective and give him a  
cheek kiss for it. For a moment I forgot the personal burdens I had, that formed clouds of acid rain  
above my head. I can't help but look behind him at the hallway as if expecting one of the twins to  
magically appear cackling demonically._ _

_ _Leaving the door to close after a nudge from my ankle, I jog back to the kitchen and put some  
refrigerated flapjacks in the toaster. Nutella flapjack sandwiches for breakfast sounds about right._ _

_ _"Let go now, Duckling." Liam walks into the kitchen some ten minutes later, Niall utterly glued to  
his front._ _

_ _"Hey there, Lou." He greets with a jerky nod._ _

_ _"Need some help?" I raise my eyebrows at the situation he's in while I pop four flapjacks in the  
toaster._ _

_ _"Nah. I'm good." Liam manages to get Niall on his own feet._ _

_ _The blonde immediately turns to me, fire in his bright blue eyes. "You _knew_ he was  
coming!"_ _

_ _"Uh- no." I lie lamely. "Who's he?"_ _

_ _Liam sits himself down at the kitchen counter, totally unimpressed after dropping his travel bag on  
the floor. I put two medium flapjacks on a random white plate before sliding it to him, then popping  
two more after giving Niall the other pair._ _

_ _"I'm going to dream about you and this Nutella forever." Niall sits a chair away from Liam,  
physically contradicting the words spilling from his mouth._ _

_ _"Considering I polished off your other one-" Liam chuckles at the pained look that takes over Niall's  
features. "-I thought I owed you one."_ _

_ _"Wise arse." Niall forks his flapjack into his mouth, chewing and swallowing without the aid of  
milk._ _

_ _When I get my flapjacks out of the toaster, I notice that half the Nutella is consumed already and  
I'm left to spoon a large dollop onto my warm breakfast. With a cup of tea in my hand, I excuse  
myself and go to my bedroom it's my way of informing Liam that none of the Madhouse case is to  
be discussed in front of Niall, and he can come find me when he's ready._ _

_ _My breakfast is completed and I use my phone to catch up with anything I've missed. The Wi-Fi  
seems to be acting up and I restart it, watch a red then healthy green signal light come to life. I  
shoot off a text to my mother checking on her, discover messages at the bottom of my inbox from  
early May and respond to them now. Most are from my sisters, then there's an email from my father  
checking on me. Oh if he only knew._ _

_ _My father is very Christian Grey minus the sex appeal. He's in control of everything and that's why  
my sisters think my mom left him, but I know it's just because she's not willing to pull up her socks.  
My dad has a new woman in his life and she's doing just fine not becoming a drug addict and escort._ _

_ _A knock on my door startles me out of my browsing through my contact list. "C-Come in."_ _

_ _The door creaks open and hesitantly, Liam steps in. Relaxed, I smile and allow him to sit at the edge  
of my comfortable bed. He had a black zipped folder in his hand, his muscular stature sitting up  
straight and not blocking the object at all. I watch the corners of his leather jacket crinkle and I  
cringe._ _

_ _"What?" He laughs, free of standard and amused by my reaction._ _

_ _"How did you manage to drive here in a leather jacket?" I ask, sliding off my bed to put my plate on  
a table and wash my hands._ _

_ _"I managed." He shrugs simply. "This is for you."_ _

_ _"Thank you." I accept the offering, immediately unzipping the material pouch to reveal what it  
encased so carefully._ _

_ _"That is-" Liam cracks his knuckles. "-background information on Edmund. It's not much since it's  
a developing case but we can add to it as we go along."_ _

_ _I look at him as he speaks, nodding and humming at all the right intervals. "Are you on duty for  
this?"_ _

_ _"No." Liam pressed his temples. "I'm supposed to be on vacation."_ _

_ _"You poor thing." I roll my eyes and set the file on my study desk. "I have to get ready to work. Are  
you staying in a hotel?"_ _

_ _He happens to be staying at the same hotel as my mother and I offer to lead him there on my drive  
to work. After getting dressed in beige three-quarter jeans that allows my ankles to peek out from  
the folded cuff with a graphic T-shirt I don't remember buying, I alert Liam that I'm leaving._ _

_ _"Where will you get lunch?" Niall follows me to the door and I sincerely doubt it's because of me,  
and rather due to Liam behind me._ _

_ _"The place I always do." I answer routinely, my head still heavy and now with two Advil pills in  
addition._ _

_ _"Maybe we could both go?" Liam suggests, looking tired himself. "I'm sure the Madhouse isn't the  
ideal place to discuss the case."_ _

_ _"Neither is a diner filled with retirees." I grab my keys and sling the strap of my bag over my  
shoulder. "We'll discuss it at home."_ _

_ _Liam gets into the parking lot of his hotel safely enough, and he calls me to alert me of the fact that  
he'll drop by the Madhouse after he's had a long enough nap._ _

_ _"That okay?" He checks whether his plans have the go-ahead._ _

_ _The sight revealed to me from behind one of the town's oldest trees where I always park my car,  
gets me to hurry this conversation along. "Yeah. 'kay. I'll talk to you later."_ _

_ _"Bye-" I rudely hang up before he can say anything else._ _

_ _There are two tactics for the situation I'm in. I could simple ignore the glossy black Range Rover on  
my left outside of which stood a man in a terribly grey trench coat. The other option? I can  
acknowledge him and the car. I wish I wasn't such a coward._ _

_ _I make a dire effort to park two spots away but bloody Reverend James gets there before I do. Part  
of my snarling subconscious thinks it's because he knows I'm not baptised. He still smiles and  
waves when I drive past him, on to making a circle before coming back._ _

_ _The gaping parking spot is still there when I round the stone corner again and I'm forced to fill it. I  
thank my father for tinting my windows because to my immediate right is none other than the  
individual I'd like to avoid completely for the rest of my life please._ _

_ _"You're undoubtedly a sinful allurement when you're trying to avoid me." Edward grabs my elbow a  
little too briskly and draws me back between our cars when I try speedily walking away. "Makes the  
catch all that more delicious."_ _

_ _I glare at him although his eyes are hidden behind mirrored Ray Bans. It just so happens that today  
is one of the _very few_ sunny days in Middleston. I'd like to hate on this lunatic and his  
sociopathic brother for disabling me from appreciating the phenomenon because I'm the eye of a  
very cruel whirlpool. All the burdens they've thrown onto my shoulders makes me less and less  
content._ _

_ _"I thought you'd be happy to see me, petal." Edward leans back against his monster of a car and I  
stand against my own._ _

_ _"Pray do tell me why you thought that." I snap, keeping from rubbing the damp skin of my  
forehead._ _

_ _Edward laughs, loud and frightening. It doesn't scare me even if the Sisters walking on the  
pavement from the admin building around back jump out of their robes._ _

_ _"You're not making my life easy either, petal." He rakes a hand with five bony by perfectly long  
fingers through his starch white hair. "Harry knows you called a friend from Detroit."_ _

_ __Shit!_ I stare in horror at the twin in front of me, falling back against my vehicle with a  
deflated slouch. "How?"_ _

_ _"Can't tell you that, darlin'." He crosses his arms over his chest, the sleeves of his coat - why is he  
even wearing that? - strain around his biceps. "He's going to be plenty angry at me too."_ _

_ _"Then why'd you come here?" I am seriously considering living under that rock everyone talks  
about._ _

_ _"To try and save you." Edward tilts his head to the side, utterly insane and peering at me from  
behind his sunglasses like I'm no different._ _

_ _I scoff and try not to choke on the bile rising in my throat, full of rage and worsening my headache  
along with it. "_Save me?!_ You and your brother-"_ _

_ _Edward's sunglasses lift onto the crown of his head, his eyes narrowing on me. "Tread carefully,  
petal."_ _

_ _"You and your brother have done nothing but muck up my life!" I exclaim, which I probably  
shouldn't have done because this man was not living in the Madhouse for nothing._ _

_ _I seemed to have pushed a line seemingly by the way Edward's jaw tightens explicitly, allowing the  
flex of the bone and clean shaven skin over it to shift. "You failed to tread carefully, Louis."_ _

_ _Another moment passes before my back is hitting the metal railing of my car door and my wrists  
find themselves pinned together at my tummy. Edward's eyes bore like atomic bombs into my own,  
scorching like the flame of the phoenix._ _

_ _"You are-"_ _

_ _ ***NARRATOR'S POV*** _ _

_ _The crunching of boots on gravel gets Edward to pause whatever threat or otherwise statement he  
was about to make. Louis looks over his shoulder at the approaching person in a halfway-done  
white silk shirt and skin-tight jeans. The wind is supplying enough breeze to cause a flapping  
motion in the fabric of such an expensive shirt._ _

_ _"You do this to him on purpose." Harry starts, squeezing Edward's shoulder so his brother backed  
up._ _

_ _Edward moved so entirely away that he kicked stones at the tyre of their jet black vehicle. He  
struggled with his anger already and with Louis not adhering to his warning about being verbally  
cautious, he doubts he can hold on much longer._ _

_ _"Do what?" He hears Louis ask Harry, either uncharactistically ignorant or pretending.  
Harry's smirk with a thousand different meanings and still the ability to make a blissfully naïve  
individual weak at the knees, will forever unparalleled. He takes a chance and dips down low  
enough attack the thin purse of Louis' lips. It's become quite the obsession with him, Harry's need to  
physically root themselves together so it became abundantly clear to all competitors that this beauty  
will lay in his bed at night._ _

_ _By choice or not, is not of importance._ _

_ _His lips slide imperfectly against Louis' because the boy tries to turn away but Harry secures the left  
side of his face. The kiss is a little sloppy and Harry might be pushing Louis too hard against the  
car's exterior, but the intrusion of a tongue in his mouth gets Louis to focus his irritation on  
something else._ _

_ _"I expected a better greeting." Harry says unhappily, clasping Louis' neck in a steel hold._ _

_ _"I'm sorry." Louis says sarcastically, skipping the roll of his futuristic eyes._ _

_ _"Are you?"_ _

_ _Louis screws his jaw up painfully. He catches a glimpse of Edward completely avoiding their scene  
as he stood by the hood of the SUV._ _

_ _"Answer your Daddy, petal." While Edward's stare felt like resting in a fire' eye, Harry made you  
ice cold in the deepest part of your body. It was paralysing. _"Petal."__ _

_ _"I am." Louis says before he can stop his unfiltered mind._ _

_ _Harry took the final step that put his leg between both of Louis'. "This concept is difficult for you,  
petal. Who are you speaking to?"_ _

_ _The curtain in the building on Louis' left moves again. More people are probably gawking at the  
scene unfolding outside, wondering and speculating like the inquisitive members of society they  
are. Louis is also bothered about Liam showing up after him to carry out his investigation._ _

_ _"Daddy." Louis wants to speed things along. He creases the folds of Harry's shirt when he hold onto  
them, surprising both brothers with his willingness._ _

_ _Harry makes a slight humming noise. Edward turns in time to frown in confusion at Louis and his  
overly affectionate brother. The short circuit that is Harry's demented psyche allows him a small  
fantasy where Louis has finally come over to his side. He nuzzles Louis' neck and suckles at the  
tiniest gasp that comes as a result._ _

_ _"Come, petal." He suddenly backs away and yanks Louis forward with him. "Get in."_ _

_ _"I have work-" Louis starts to say and Edward slamming his clenched fist on the hood of the Rover  
gets him to stop abruptly._ _

_ _Harry gives his older brother a disapproving look that questions why he would sabotage the  
progress they've made. Edward doesn't even look at either of them when he made his way around  
the front of the vehicle and back into the driver's seat. He was fuming and it wasn't hard to see.  
Louis wanted to know why._ _

_ _"Okay." He found himself agreeing for the sake of learning why Edward suddenly objects to the  
behaviour he's been wanting all along, and for the sake of the approaching red Mustang that belongs  
to Liam._ _

_ _Louis is in the back seat and when the doors don't lock, he allows himself the tiny possibility that if  
things go downhill he can jump out. The unfortunate truth of that leading to death or severe injury  
doesn't dawn on him just yet._ _

_ _The interior of the Range Rover is everything the car magazines make it out to be. Louis doesn't  
puzzle for long over how the brothers have the funds to source such luxuries of theirs. The seats are  
high off the carpeted floors and Louis has to tip his feet so his shoes touch the ground. The windows  
are perfectly tinted from the outside but from within he can see everything he needs to._ _

_ _Edward speaks zero words to him as Harry gets in, smug little bastard. He turns his knuckles to an  
unhealthy white shade as he pulls out of the spot in reverse, a smooth ride despite the gravel  
beneath them. Louis only begins to doubt himself when Liam drives right by and doesn't spend  
more than a beat studying their presence._ _

_ _"Where are we going?" He has to ask. There's an unsettled air about the car but Louis doesn't feel  
threatened by it, his gut instinct failing to flare up. _ _

_ _"Edward?" Harry calls his brother to answer the question._ _

_ _Sparing a glance at the rear-view mirror, Edward shoots Louis an indecipherable look before  
turning back to the road. Louis doesn't know what to make of it and he chews his lip in agitation.  
"What's wrong?" Harry turns in his seat - he didn't put his seatbelt on - to face his brooding sibling._ _

_ _"Edward."_ _

_ _Louis didn't like where this could be going. His eyes snapped from brother to brother in concern._ _

_ _"Nothing." It was barely audible for either party on the listening end._ _

_ _"You're moody again." Harry points out, all innocent and child-like._ _

_ _He even gets Edward to pry his eyes off the road and for his murderous stare to loosen up at the  
worry of his best friend and brother. Astonishing as it was to Louis, he's a little concerned about  
Harry's ability to change his mood so suddenly. He's seen it at the Madhouse and now here it is  
again._ _

_ _"Edward-"_ _

_ _Thankfully by this point they'd arrived at the destination they intended and Edward gets out before  
answering. Harry is left with a pissed off grind of his jaw and frustrated curl of his fingers against  
the leather seat. Louis hates Edward for leaving him here with Harry._ _

_ _"He's pissed off about you." Harry fills the silence with his deceptive voice. "I don't have time to fix  
it now."_ _

_ _"Fix what?" Louis' eyes dance across the furnishings and exterior design of the marvellous house  
he's in front of._ _

_ _"The war you may have started." Harry jumps off and opens Louis' door. He's proud to say he's a  
gentleman of fine breeding._ _

_ _"_War-_"_ _

_ _"Hush, petal." Harry chuckles at the alarm in Louis' voice, lowering himself to whisper lowly in the  
latter's ear. "Welcome home."_ _

_ _* * * * *_ _

_ _The Styles manor is exquisite and so well maintained that nobody in their right mind would assume  
such brothers resided here. There is a butler who usually drives either Styles around, Gerard, and a  
housekeeping lady by the name of Sophia._ _

_ _It's at least three levels high and been on this estate for centuries without a doubt. Harry is a giddy  
little boy when he takes Louis on a peruse through the establishment, stunning him even further.  
Louis listens to the way Harry praises their home and holds his hand like they're absolutely  
comfortable with each other. _ _

_ _"This is the dining room." Harry says eloquently, tapping Louis' knuckle with his middle finger.  
"We rarely eat here because the table is too long."_ _

_ _He wasn't exaggerating. The fine oak table ran from one side of the long room to the other,  
stretched out over more than four legs under it. Next is the living room._ _

_ _"Ed and I designed this room." Harry makes it sound like a distant memory. "It's nothing more than  
a room with sofas and a coffee table."_ _

_ _Here he is wrong. There's a massive flat screen hoisted over a mini steel shelf that housed the  
various devices hooked up to the monster of a television. Each thing the Styles family did was done  
in style - ultimate pun intended - and huge proportions._ _

_ _He's shown nothing else downstairs and doesn't get a word in edge-wise until they're upstairs. A  
glass pane runs along the far side of the hallway and the bright sun sitting over a few pine treetops  
allows Louis to remember that it is the middle of the day._ _

_ _"You said...-" Louis is ushered into the darkest room he's been in and the door closed behind him.  
Harry flips the lights on and Louis realises where he is. The _bedroom_. Before him two beds  
were positioned a distance apart with a small table and lamp between them. To his right was a  
sealed window and to his left was the set of doors to a grand closet._ _

_ _"Edward's." Harry points to the bed on the left with white sheets and black pillows. "Mine." He  
indicates to the bed with an absolute matching design._ _

_ _He's gobsmacked with no way of recovering._ _

_ _"What were you saying earlier, petal?" Harry poses the simple question._ _

_ _"Why am I here?" Louis fires back, heart and mind set on keeping his clothes on for today._ _

_ _Harry indulges him a small smile and saunters back over to him from the window. He tilts Louis'  
face up to look at him and runs the nail of his thumb along the curve of Louis' cheekbone._ _

_ _"Because you have questions for me." Harry says in a deep, lowered voice. "Questions I won't  
answer without incentives."_ _

_ _Louis shivers and his instincts reel madly in the bridges of his mind, crashing overboard so he's left  
to his primal choices. "Your brother."_ _

_ _"Yes?" Harry encourages with the nudge of his plump lips on Louis' heavy thud of a pulse point.  
Louis steels himself and wills the fear away. It crumbles to an extent but builds up again as  
something worse than fear in the case of a deranged pursuer with practised hands._ _

_ _"He's upset." Louis sputters._ _

_ _"Maybe-" Harry walks them back and trips Louis so he falls onto his back. "-we'll put on a show for  
him."_ _

_ _Falling through the clusters of warm air leaves Louis silenced when his back and hips hit the bed.  
It's something his strong inner personality will not allow him to take comfort from but he's at a loss.  
He chose to come here and he's at Harry's mercy therefore._ _

_ _"S-Stop." Louis holds his hand out when Harry opts to crawl over to him, the flesh of his small  
palm coming to rest over the flesh covering Harry's beating heart._ _

_ _"Here's how it works, darlin'." Harry withdraws from the close proximity and lays down with his  
cradled by the pillows. "Come closer."_ _

_ _Louis shuffles in his direction after kicking his shoes off. He'd like to surrender completely to the  
submissive part of him that believes wholeheartedly that no harm will come to him from these  
brothers. Their infatuation with him will all-in-all be in his favour until he decides to screw up._ _

_ _"Get up here." Harry motions to his mid-section that is bare and flexing the display of his gymquality abs as he breathes.  
Starting to protest, Louis argues that he's not comfortable with being _that_ willing yet. "I  
won't-"_ _

_ _"Petal." Harry sighs, his hands reaching out to frame Louis' face. "Was I asking?"_ _

_ _Sighing himself, Louis' breath catches when Harry's thumb skates across his lower lip. The  
appendage pokes at the seam of his mouth, pulling away just quick enough to be innocent. He hauls  
Louis into the proper position across his lap and lies back down to bask in the advantages of having  
the best view in the world._ _

_ _"This is how it works, petal." He begins, eyes icy and lapping at the discomfort displayed by Louis.  
"Do you have many questions for me?"_ _

_ _Louis will admit that he does. Getting an opportunity to pick at Harry's brain without blood spilt or  
his body ruined is a good a chance as he can get. "Yes."_ _

_ _"I will answer one question of yours truthfully for every release you give me."_ _

_ _Louis' eyelids draw further back as he tries not to scream in confusion and dismay and every  
disarrayed emotion in his body. Release? What did he mean?_ _

_ _"Orgasm, petal." Harry elaborates simply, the sparkle of his eye belonging to nothing sweet. "Seems  
easy, does it not?"_ _

_ _Louis disagrees. He's good at sex but he's not motivated enough in this circumstance. He's had  
awful encounters with Harry and even worse memories of sexual connotations. How will he get it  
up himself, let alone pushing Harry over the edge? He has a lot of questions to ask and the thought  
of following through with this challenge makes him nauseous._ _

_ _"No." Louis shakes his head, his hand caught in Harry's when he starts pulling away._ _

_ _Impatiently, Harry huffs angrily and drops Louis a little harshly. He presses down on Louis' thin  
wrists until they're an inch or two into the bed. "You're so _stubborn_, petal."_ _

_ _Louis turns his head away when Harry raises his shirt, the bare skin of hard muscle on delicate  
softness. Harry keeps Louis focused on him, meshing their lips together in a messy union. Their  
teeth clash and Louis begins to feel the biting chill of cold air on his exposed body. Soon, Harry  
covers those areas with his large paws and separates his jaws to bite him._ _

_ _It's hardly painful when Harry's teeth sink into the skin below Louis' chin and their teeth clank in a  
forceful pull of Harry to the darkness he brings with him. Louis closes his eyes and tries to imagine  
himself in an alternate universe where this is enjoyable. He simply won't survive another assault on  
his body and mind._ _

_ _He shivers at the dip of a tongue in his belly button when Harry gets there. His back arches with his  
tightly squeezed eyelids, the warm wetness heading lower and lower. This feels more pleasant than  
their previous times and he wonders briefly why the effort is being made now._ _

_ _"I can make love." Harry says in a wicked promise, unbuttoning Louis' jeans with their mouths  
slotted in a system. "He told me I couldn't but I can."_ _

_ _Louis documents this little insecurity of Harry's mentally for later. He looks for his brother's  
approval often, even in sex. "He?"_ _

_ _"Call me Daddy." Harry insistently rolls his hips between Louis' thighs. "Say it for me, petal."_ _

_ _"Why?" Louis' neck tilts to the side, his hands braced on Harry's bulging biceps._ _

_ _"Petals are delicate." Harry kneels between Louis' bare legs, unbuckling his belt and smirking down  
at the splayed out boy. "They need Daddy's."_ _

_ _"We have thorns."_ _

_ _"Yes you do, darlin'."_ _

_ _Harry stripped himself of his pants and bent back down to conceal Louis' body with his own. He ran  
his hands all over Louis' limp body, hiking the sinful thighs of his obsession over his shoulders.  
"I hurt you the other times we did this."_ _

_ _Harry thumbs over Louis' nipples to get them perky and attentive. His own erection remained  
within the confines of his boxer briefs, pressing into the crevice of Louis' behind right where he'd  
enter him._ _

_ _"I'm going to put my mouth on your body before I let you get started." Harry gets started on Louis'  
neck, right behind his ear._ _

_ _Louis hopes he can use this time zoning out from the torture of Harry's tongue to prepare himself.  
Unfortunately an attention-deprived growl and lick to a particularly jerky spot on his thigh has that  
plan squashed then beat on._ _

_ _"Pay attention to me." Harry scowls ungratefully. "Open your eyes and _watch me_."_ _

_ _He's about to take in the mentally unstable sex God above him, when the bedroom door opens in the  
brusque motion of a possibly still uncomfortable and irritable Edward. He happens to glance at   
them only because of the angle he entered the room at and does nothing, says nothing to them._ _

_ _Harry hardly pays him any mind and continues to nibble on Louis' skin at the curves and soft peeks.  
Edward goes into the closet for approximately three minutes, and while Louis is roped into Harry's  
ministrations he keeps his eyes on the closet in the hopes that the sane twin will come to his rescue.  
He's not ready for this to be entirely consensual and Harry's even forcing that on him._ _

_ _"Me, petal." Harry turned Louis' head away and it was like sharing a bed with two hot coals. "Don't  
pay attention to him."_ _

_ _In the middle of that speech Edward decided to leave again and Louis watches the last of his  
silhouette disappear behind a closed door. He accepts defeat then and hardly feels the rough drag of  
Harry's tongue on his intimate regions, then the jab of his under-lubed fingers and then the intrusion  
of a wide girth spearing his insides._ _

_ _Louis pushes himself to be somewhere else during the entire thing and he hardly even gets hard,  
even if Harry doesn't notice he gets to feel the warm come slide down his thighs after Harry's  
orgasm. It's wretched._ _

_ _"My petal. I have something to show you." Harry is beaming like it's Christmas morning and he's  
destined for the best presents in the neighbourhood._ _

_ _Before he can wake up on his own, fuelled by the robotic mindset his brain has fallen back on,  
Harry yanks Louis' drowsy body over to the edge of the bed and picks him up in a fireman's carry  
that was poorly executed. He has Louis clinging to his lower back as he hurries down the hall to the  
panoramic window Louis saw earlier._ _

_ _His heart and guts have leaped bounds up the length of Louis' throat into his mouth. The ground is  
far too close to his face for his liking and his uneasy perch on Harry's shoulder is deeply unsettling.  
He's slipping more and more until finally Harry drops him to his feet, setting his hands on Louis'  
shoulders and spinning him around._ _

_ _"All for you, my petal." Harry traps Louis' ear lobe between his lips and suckles until the skin is  
swollen pink._ _

_ _A dead feeling settles in Louis' chest, along with the cloud of absolute horror that causes his jaw to  
fall, heart to pound and mind to collapse into turmoil. He contains his scream but he's only certain  
that can be done for a few seconds because of the stability Harry's arms offer to him. The sounds  
around him drop to an extremely low decibel until they're just a sick ringing sound._ _

_ _There's a lake outside in the back of the manor with a single huge tree, bare as Hell right beside a  
short pier. Off the longest and strongest branch hangs two course ropes, each wrapped around the  
wooden support then around the neck of a limp person. Louis scratches bloody warts into Harry's  
arms as that scream breaks through horrifically._ _

_ _The first rope belongs to the broken neck of the girl who spilt her drink over Louis, her body  
hanging lifelessly with no colour whatsoever to signify body warmth. From here, Louis can see that  
she's been dead a long time. The next rope is the reason for Louis abusing the arm wrapped around  
his waist._ _

_ _Anthony._ _


	8. chapter Eight

**The first rope belongs to the broken neck of the girl who spilt her drink over Louis, her body  
hanging lifelessly with no colour whatsoever to signify body warmth. From here, Louis can see that  
she's been dead a long time. The next rope is the reason for Louis abusing the arm wrapped around  
his waist.**

**Anthony.**

***LOUIS' POV***

It's like someone placed metal clamps over my ears and made every sound I could recognise simply  
pass by with the heavy ringing of metallic echoing. My head felt blocked and stuffed with things  
that made it heavier. I'm pretty sure I was struggling to free myself from the beastly grip around me,  
keeping me restrained from leaping out the window.

_Anthony!_

There are tears rolling down my face before I'm able to stop them. Along with hurt comes pain,  
unimaginable pain at knowing you've done all you can to save the person you're least likely to save.  
I know I can't scream. There's no voice to do it. I'm under an agonising amount of pressure that I  
feel braced at the seams.

"Do you like it?" Harry asked against the lobe of my ear, half the tone of a toddler telling a secret  
and half the mannerism of a sadist ensuring his victim is well shaken up.

I'm being tilted forward and I don't know why, but it's by the strong hand of Harry on my back. I  
sob at the blatant gruesome extent of this 'gift', hiding it behind my hand with blurry vision coating  
my sight. The bodies outside hung limply in the wind, swayed lightly from side to side as the rope  
twitched from the breeze and tension.

The squeaks and squeals of rope grinding on drying skin is covered by own screaming. I'm wearing  
nothing but clutching some form of cotton to my naked chest with my left hand. Harry is shuffling  
behind me but I care very little because I'm just about tipping over the edge of grief mountain. I'm  
keeping my watery and widened eyes on everything indoors so another attack of panic isn't  
triggered.

Who knew breathing could be so hard?

"I hate it." I mutter angrily, the whites of my eyes turning red with strain and beginning to itch.  
"I hate you."

Harry doesn't seem to grasp this and he spins me around to look at him, but I fight a short battle to  
keep my gaze off him. I'm afraid I might turn murderous myself if I have to see his big green eyes  
that are no more appealing than moss. Anthony's pale face haunts me and the ghost-like features of  
a young woman accompanies him.

"I did this for _you_!" He exclaimed heatedly, green eyes narrowing into something mossier.  
I gasp from the grip he has on my shoulders, squeezing too tightly to allow proper blood flow. I  
wince and try to shove him off. 

"No." He shook his head at his inner demon but he looked at me. "No, stop! I did this for you, Lou!"  
Coals would burn simpler in my soul than the ash and flame of Harry Styles. "For _us._"

An easily understood grim expression of distaste and irritation must have spread onto my features.  
My anger was raw and I felt it like ice but also mercury through my veins.

"_No_, Harry." I manage to get him at arm's length.

Harry cut me off with a hand curling stiffly around my neck, causing no restriction or pain. "For  
_us_, petal."

I wrapped my hand around his wrist and matched the intensity of his stare. "You did this because  
you're cruel and heartless. I-"

"No!" He slammed his fist into the wall next to my reddened ear that's prickling with heat. "It was  
for-"

"It was for you and your sadistic mind!" I spit. "You hurt innocent people, Harry!"

"Not innocent." He shook his head again, convincing nobody but himself internally. "He tried to  
take you away."

"From _what_?" I seem to be goaded on my the emotional adrenaline running through me and  
I push futilely at his torso. He steps forward again.

"From me."

To an ignorant outsider or bystander those words alone are enough to make a hopeless romantic  
swoon. I sometimes wish I was one of said outsiders who knew nothing of the brothers' twisted  
ways.

I make sure when I speak next it's directly to Harry. "I'm _never_ going to be yours."

Something _clicks_ in Harry's bipolar shell and the chord connecting an average person's  
emotive responses to the physical features that condone it, is snapped.

He cages me into a tiny space with his arms. They close around me quite suddenly and the spooked  
gasp Harry pulls from me pleases him. "Scared, petal?"

I steel whatever reserves of probable sanity I have left, and pull on the least frightened expression I  
can manage.

"You're my petal." Harry frames my face with both his ginormous hands. "You belong in my bed, in  
my home with my name on your lips. I don't refuse to admit that I'm a tad more psychotic and  
sadistic but don't you know, petal? It's best to be the lover of the devil than his enemy."

"A _'love'_ is not what we have and it's not going to ever exist between us." I glare at him,  
hating the height impediment. Professionally, I'd never speak to any of my patients this way. "You're  
lying to yourself and it's a cruel thing to do but I'm damn glad you're doing it because it's the  
_least_ you deserve."

After all I learnt, I should have known better.

***NARRATOR'S POV***

You're either born a psychopath or you're lucky enough to be a functioning member of society.  
Regardless of whether you are in either category there's a thin film that coats the border between  
sanity and raving lunacy in your brain. It's not a single event that causes the break in that film, but  
the pressure and prodding of a chain of events.

Louis is unlucky enough to be that person in this moment.

Harry is the first to act. He made stable Louis' neck by grabbing him by the hair at his hairline at the  
back of his head. His fingers were soft but their motions made the act thrice as painful. He tugged  
harshly until Louis' head was tilted up instead of ahead and his jaw tense with aggravation. Their  
faces remained angled towards one another for the moment it took Harry to exhale slowly and let  
the dampness roll over Louis' lips.

"You're an infuriating little petal, aren't you?" He asks hauntingly with rhetorical undertones.

"Stubborn and ungrateful too." Louis dug his nails into Harry's wrist until the racing of the man's  
pulse stuck out against the bite of his nails.

"Yes." Harry smiles at the thump of Louis' head against the wall. "Yes and you're about to  
_stop_."

"Am I?"

That ticked off something in Harry, as did most of Louis' misunderstood quirks. He pried Louis'  
hand off his wrist and found red lines left behind, one ending in an actual bright red slit where  
cartilage tore skin.

"Hmm, petal." He disapproved of markings existing on him and moved to pin Louis' hands  
completely but Louis was minutely faster and his slap landed squarely on Harry's cheek.

Harry had him held against the wall with all of his body's strength by the time he registered the  
sting of Louis' abuse. His skin turned pink from the impact but failed to get more prominent  
because of the fierce bone structure he carried around.  
"You're so _fucking_-"

"Enough!" Someone else intervened, stern and boiling with a crooked temperament after watching  
the pair for such a while.

Louis' head snapped towards the door in the tiny space he was allowed to breathe, nestled  
uncomfortably under Harry's chin. He broke free of the hold on his hands and neck, feeling great  
strain as he was freed from Harry.

"You've done enough." Edward took three large strides and hardly twitched at the sight outside. "Go  
clean it up."

Harry didn't budge for a whole minute and he did not fail at keeping his locked vision unstaggering  
on Louis' face. Edward gripped his shoulder and jerked him backwards to get him to move. 

"If it's not done by sunset, brother, you'll have something far worse than Louis to deal with."

Harry was gone after that. He slammed the bedroom door after yanking it open on firm hinges his  
anger was nothing dramatic and all real, driving shivers down Louis' spine as his adrenaline faded.  
He was alone with Edward after that and he couldn't look anywhere but at the floor.

Louis felt something heavy being draped over his shoulders and he glanced up immediately at  
Edward. The man's impassive face gave nothing away as he covered Louis' naked top half with his  
coat and avoided all eye contact.

"You do this to yourself." Edward says to him, blatantly unhappy and waiting for Louis to  
understand that.

"I don't-"

"Come." Edward puts his hand in Louis' and pulls him away from the daunting scene just outside.  
Louis remains frozen in his position, face angled towards the window where his bottom lip wobbles  
at the sight of Harry cutting down the ropes outside. Edward sighs deeply and doesn't wait for Louis  
to gather his wits about him, as he's never possessed enough patience. He has an objective at the  
moment and Harry returning before it's complete could hinder a few things.

He bends to Louis' appropriate height and hoists him up off the ground, sweeping the gravity out  
from under his cold feet. It's an over-the-top move that makes Louis gasp back his swallowed cry  
and stare at the side profile of Edward.

"What are you doing?!" Louis can't imagine the world of awful possibilities Edward could conduct.  
"_Stop!_ Stop please. You promised!"

Louis couldn't take more of an attack, not from anyone and Edward is certainly first on that list.  
Edward suddenly halts in confusion to ask: "What promise-"

"You said-" Louis has to wipe the fresh tears away from his eyes. "-you wouldn't touch me. You  
promised!"

Edward doesn't know how to respond to the boy he's holding, that's crying to get away from him  
from gripping the expensive fabric of his shirt like he needs an anchor. He doesn't set down the  
wriggling boy until they're in the adjoined bathroom. He ignores every squirm and protest he gets  
from Louis, setting the boy down on the counter by the rudely bright mirror to stare back at his  
gaunt reflection.

"What- What are you doing?" Louis sniffles, clutching the coat he was given to cover as much of  
himself as he can.

He watches the Styles other half turn on the shower and test the water, ideally wetting his sleeve in  
the process. He's confused by all this and studies the environment of the bathroom to learn the  
nooks and crannies.

It's wide and spacious. A giant shower stands across one whole side with a glass wall blocking it out  
from the toilet and double basin. It's so elegant and updated in interior design that one would never  
place it in a manor like this. 

"Jump down." Edward instructs like the elementary function and command of Louis' brain has  
malfunctioned.

He unhooks the one button Louis had in place at the very top of the coat, closest to the stiff collar.  
Edward sets the coat down and pretends so convincingly that the sight of a naked Louis does not  
affect him in the slightest.

"Get in." He steps aside so that Louis can go into the shower.

Louis looks at Edward and wonders why he's doing this for him. Edward himself looks hardly  
different from when he'd slammed the Rover's hood metal in frustration. His hair has been raked  
back many times and his shirt is unbuttoned at least four buttons down.

"Why are you doing this?" He forces himself to ask before it remains a mystery forever.

Edward responds by remaining quiet and handing Louis the body gel. His entire shirt is drenched by  
now with the back spray of water as he stood in the shower section too, shoes and all. He was  
unaffected by any of it and his unrelenting stare remained focused on Louis as if checking up on the  
boy.

"I'm sorry." Louis tried again to get words from Edward. He accepted the bottle of body gel and  
sponge but did nothing with them.

Edward's curiosity makes his eyebrow quirk. Why is Louis apologising?  
"A-And thank you." Louis stutters, frowning at himself and appreciating the warmth of the water  
gliding down his sore exterior.

"For?" Edward takes his chances and asks.

Louis' thin bottom lip is bitten down to a sore layer of skin and the steam from his shower is doing  
good for a slight burn on it. He doesn't exactly know how to phrase his thanks in words and doesn't  
want to be touched.

Coming to his solution is a rocky road, but nothing as hard or challenging as taking the step forward  
and touching Edward. It's not something he'd set out to do yesterday or a few hours ago even, but  
he's got no other way to express his gratitude. He closes his eyes tightly, squeezing out the water,  
and setting his cheek on Edward's shoulder.

The man is taken aback completely and goes stiff to the core when he witnesses this. Louis shakes  
his head when Edward's hands brush his back.

"Don't." He won't allow himself to be touched even if he's bending that rule already.  
Edward understands and drops his hands back to his sides. He wants to know why he's being so  
accommodating with Louis but he's got a fairly good subconscious idea. Louis' not their petal for  
nothing.

"I'll protect you." He blurts out uncharacteristically but not unintentionally. 

Louis cues his quick withdrawal and stares up at Edward with glossy blue eyes of intrigue. There's  
something masked in Edward's eyes too and it's something that's full of pain.

"From-"

"From everything." Edward presses the body gel and allows the blue substance to drip onto the  
sponge.

"Why?"

With slow hands, Louis takes back the sponge and finds his answer leaving with Edward as the man  
exits the shower section.

"Wait!"

Louis panics and forgets to grab hold of Edward in his hurry to keep the older male near so his more  
threatening, scary sibling doesn't get to him. He trips on the steel bar dividing the bathroom tiled  
floor from the shower-fitted area, dropping the objects in his hands as he falls. His knee hits the  
steel rod and Edward turns around in time to hear him shriek.

"Petal!" He is _now_ uncharacteristically beside himself, seizing Louis by the arms to hold  
him up even if it's halfway.

Coughing and sputtering, Louis let's Edward support him in a shaky stand again. His knees become  
wobbly and the unkind thrills crashing into his concentration distracts him from the fact that  
Edward is carrying him again.

"You have _no_ care for self preservation, petal. None." Edward scorns with a rigid jaw.  
He slams the bathroom door closed without using his hands and Louis whimpers from the sudden  
bang. Edward is overcome with something else now, and it drives him to a manic mind with fretting  
over Louis.

"Drive me crazy." Edward frowns deeply and opens the tap of the white porcelain tub. "Absolutely  
mad."

Louis watches Edward carry on handling him and the things around them so easily. He feels like  
he's caught in a trance within a vortex and can't move his attention from Edward. The man was  
wetting himself entirely by holding Louis the way he way and it seemed only Louis took note of  
this.

"Fuck the fucking promise." Edward muttered in a harsh tone, kicking off his strange shoes and  
stepping into the filling tub with Louis.

He sits down with Louis pressed against him like an overbearing vine wrapped around the boy's  
middle, in the form of his muscular arm. Edward would never do this. He'd never even want to get  
this close to Louis, or anyone. There was no gaping hole in his soul for intimacy, but he doesn't feel  
like he can physically let his petal go at the moment.

It doesn't feel like Louis wants him to let go either by the way he curls his short fingers as they  
spasm slightly on Edward's forearm. They're side-by-side in the tub with Louis slowly being  
covered by the warm water. 

"You kissed me." Louis says softly, carefully. He's referring to days ago that felt like a lifetime prior  
to this day.

"I am aware." Edward watches Louis lean forward and drops his arm to admire from a short  
distance, the beauty in the curve of Louis' back.

Louis doesn't meet Edward's eye and tightens his hand on the other's pant leg when the bedroom  
door opens outside the bathroom. Harry's back.

"He won't come in here." Edward silently promises. "I'm-"

"Why did you kiss me?" Louis bends his knees up to his chest and circles an arm around them. He  
listens intently to the noises of the adjacent room.

Edward grinds his jaw and his gums begin to hurt where the sharp ends of his teeth slot beside one  
another. It's a spell-binding pain that makes him want to cause more pain to balance the first dose.  
"Because it must be obvious that I don't _kiss_ people, you want to know what made you so  
special?"

Louis nods cautiously and an involuntary wince makes his nose scrunch up and back shiver.  
"You want to hear that I'll never hurt you-" Edward leans forward too, his sudden press against  
Louis' back makes them both anxious. "-because my brother did and will again."

"You won't?" Louis curls his toes in the water.

They both listen to Harry dashing about in the next room, cursing loudly and at one point smash  
something. Not once does he approach the bathroom door.

"I won't."

Louis involuntarily launches himself at Edward when Harry does start knocking on the door. It  
could actually be twice as loud as when he slammed it earlier or just that Louis' ears are gone  
sensitive. He fears Harry walking in here and Edward allowing him to be taken.

"Must I still-"

Knowing what Edward's asking before he fully does, Louis takes the man's arms and winds them  
around him. He's hoping this becomes an incentive of sorts, to make Edward not easily give him up.  
Edward's arm become constricting bands around him and one shifts to stretch across his back.  
"I will keep you safe from him, petal, if that is what you want." Edward offers with a slight lisp  
from the conical shape of his teeth. "Is that-"

"Yes." Louis closes his eyes at the sound of Harry starting to talk through the barrier of the door.  
He sounded unbelievably desperate with his knuckles tapping a soft rhythm on the solid wood  
structure. "Lou? Petal?"

Louis doesn't respond and rubs the cold tip of his nose on the silky texture of Edward's shirt. The  
latter doesn't mind or at least doesn't seem to mind because he scratches the bend of Louis'  
shoulders with his short nails so they don't leave marks on the skin surface.

Harry continues to talk while Louis hears very little of it. He gets bits and pieces of his pleas that  
have no effect on his behalf.

"He's different, petal." Edward doesn't want to let go of Louis anymore than Louis doesn't want  
Harry to touch him.

Louis starts to feel the water getting cold and his muscles getting tighter so he stretches his bare legs  
out. Outside, Harry is caught between the storm in his head and the morbid reality surrounding him.  
He's pacing around the bedroom and closet, matted in dry decay on his creased clothing and dried  
blood. His fingers crawl through his hair so many times that the weakening motion gets a few  
strands loose in his palms.

He's pulling his hair out with frustration and a world of pent-up cruel emotions spitting words all  
the same at him.

"Don't...-" Edward frames one side of Louis' face to make sure he's looking at the earnest hope in  
his eyes that's curtained by emotional instability. "My brother has a fragile and broken mind, petal.  
He doesn't know the proper way to do things without help, and he's recently taking such a liking to  
you that-"

"He hits me." Louis cuts across with a snap. "He screams at me and he _raped_ me."

Edward flinches at the word with personal disgust and hate. "Be firm with him and he'll  
_learn_."

Louis shakes his head and starts to withdraw from their small cove. Edward holds him back. "He's  
too dangerous for me."

Edward listens to Louis' extremely low voice and sighs. He takes the new bar of soap from a metal  
rack and makes sure Louis sees. "May I?"

He gets a nod from the boy half asleep against him and begins the lathering process with a suitable  
white sponge.

"I will make sure he doesn't hurt you." Edward covers Louis shoulders and back with the white  
foam he's created. "You must promise to give him a chance."

"A chance?!" His voice cracks and his eyes run wild.

"Hush." Edward shakes his head and starts on Louis' arms. "You have to understand something,  
darlin'."

Louis waits with narrowed eyes to be explained to because he cannot understand or begin to  
respect- He shuts himself down when the realisation dawns quickly.

"You're not crazy." He makes Edward drop the soap so he can look into his eyes without hindrance.   
Edward's been perfectly sane for the time that Louis' known him, save for the times when he acted  
out from anger and justifiable aggravation. He stares back at Louis like his biggest secret has been  
revealed and he tries to get out of it by shifting.

"No, stop." Louis plants himself firmly in his spot and holds onto Edward's sturdy shoulders.  
"Edward, why would you-"

"Give my brother a chance and I will tell you."

Louis can't sacrifice that. He knows he can't. "You went through.....all that he did even when you  
didn't have to?"

Edward doesn't reply.

"This." Louis feels no worry when he presses the pad of his thumb into Edward's cheek and the  
other examining the sharpness of the man's molars. "You did this to be.......more convincing.  
_Why_ make yourself-"

"Because there's nobody else to do it for him, petal." Edward's unable to contain the truth he's  
forced himself to keep to no credit. "He's my brother-"

"-and you're loyal to him." Louis finishes in a paraphrase. "You put yourself through all that and  
you'd still have me give him a chance."

Edward looks behind Louis out the small window put in place in their bathroom. "I did it because  
he's never known how to be happy. You can make him happy, petal."

"What about you?" Louis moves his thumb to the Adam's Apple on Edward's throat.

"We can share."


	9. Chapter Nine

**Edward looks behind Louis out the small window put in place in their bathroom. "I did it  
because he's never known how to be happy. You can make him happy, petal."**

**"What about you?" Louis moves his thumb to the Adam's Apple on Edward's throat.**

**"We can share."**

***NARRATOR'S POV***

Louis blinks away the sting of a hypothetical eye lash falling in his eye, and looks at Edward in  
disbelief. "_Share?_"

"Share." Edward confirms, a smirk curving the corner of his mouth so his dimple sinks partially on  
his pale cheek. "It shouldn't be unappealing to you."

"Oh really?" Louis crosses his arms, or at least tries to before Edward nails him against his chest.  
Edward drags his lips across Louis' ear and it provides a starting point for all the right shivers.  
"Twice as much attention. Twice as much pleasure."

"Maybe that's not all I want." Louis turns his head with difficulty to look Edward in the eye, a  
casual clash of blue ice and green earth.

"What do you want?" The man taps the bandage around Louis' neck that's concealing the healing  
process of a scabbed bite mark. "Protection?" He laughed in a warm breath. "Warmth?" His arm  
extends around Louis to unplug the drain and stand. "_Love_, petal? Is that what you want?"

Louis knows he wants a lot more than what these brothers can offer in their broken glory to him. He  
tries to tell Edward this without needing to say a word, his eyes burning the message into the  
landscape of Edward's mind. His body is lifted out of the tub and a towel is wrapped around him.  
"Give us a chance." Edward tucks the loose end of the thick white towel into a secured hook under  
Louis' arm. "Maybe the desire of two mad men will be enough for you."

"You're not a mad man." Louis points out quietly, studying Edward's reaction as it evolves.

The man smiles crookedly and touches his index to his lips in a motion to be silent about it. Edward  
takes Louis' hand, rolling the boy's smaller fingers between his own and leads him out of the  
bathroom. Harry is not in the bedroom but a vase is broken at his bed by the window.

"He can be a child at times." Edward speaks, switching on the light in their closet. 

Louis thinks about the time Harry rocked back and forth on his bed in Briarville; the time he spent  
convincing Louis at the very same window that he did everything for _them_. He had an  
unsettled way about him and the nervousness of a child being rejected.

"Don't let him guilt you." Edward pulls off clothing from random hangers. "He is very passionate  
about everything he favours and now he favours you."

Edward gives Louis black joggers and a white T-shirt that's bound to flow for miles on his body  
shape. It feels soft anyway.

"What about you?" Louis slips the shirt on first after forgetting to dry himself. "You always speak  
about him."

Edward starts to remove his wet clothing at last after Louis imagines they've become soggy and  
awful. Their eyes never separate even when Edward is stark naked and standing inches away from  
him.

"Twice as passionate." Edward runs the tip of his nose up the column of Louis' throat and when the  
boy's eyelashes flutter before closing, let's the stickiness of his lips slide across Louis' without a  
kiss. "I'm all yours."

Louis' eyes fly open. "Mine?"

"All yours." Edward reinstates. "Why, petal, would you like me to belong to someone else?"

"Why would you...-" Louis reaches his hand towards Edward's cheek and stands on his tiptoes.  
"You want to be mine in-"

"I am yours." Edward corrects. "My brother hasn't realised it yet but he's given himself to you a  
long time ago."

"Why?"

"Simply because it is, petal."

"If you're mine then why won't you kiss me?"

Edward's bemusement lights the sparkle in his eyes of dampened spirit. His smirk is frightening  
with the caps of white blades peeking out against the plumpness of his bottom lip. "Would you like  
me to kiss you, petal?"

Louis' smile is a fair contender. It's small and soft, much like all his feelings at the moment. He tilts  
his head to the sky a little so his nose brushes Edward's no matter which way they twisted. "Are you  
afraid of kissing me?"

They both wonder how a conversation derailed so intricately onto the in's and out's of their kissing  
life. Edward's brows furrow together at Louis' question, forming three worry lines on his forehead.  
He is hesitant and he's always excellent at hiding it.

"Because of these." Louis touches the exposed tip of Edward's deadly canine with his delicate  
fingertip. 

Edward takes Louis' hand away from his face and does the strangest thing that can happen at that  
moment. Louis' seen fifty too many strange things with these brothers. He nips at the nail of Louis'  
thumb before sucking the appendage between his lips.

Louis gasps and tries to jerk his hand back to his side but Edward may have accomplished what he  
set out to do. He extracts the lavender taste from his mouth and chuckles at the flabbergasted look  
on Louis' face.

"I can do damage with these." Edward flashes his molars in a brief grin, and his eyes dart to the  
strapped gauze featured on Louis' neck. "I remember this."

Louis covers the bandage with his hand, dipping his head to be greeted with the sight of his bare  
feet on fine carpeting. Edward picks up on Louis' uncomfortable vibe and regrets saying anything,  
but goes for trying to make up for it.

"I don't want to do it again." Edward tells the truth, removing Louis' preventative hand.  
Louis grabs the joggers off the rack where he'd placed them, hurrying to pull them over his legs. His  
present companion watches in vague amusement as the boy tries not to fidget with the hem of the  
shirt he's got on.

"Why did you do it?" Louis asks while he exits the closet after the air within it becomes rife with  
tangible tension.

"I may not be clinically unbalanced-" Edward holds his arm out, motioning to his own bed for Louis  
to crawl into. "-but I am still a man. What and who is valuable to me, most or least, must mean  
absolutely nothing to others so that they don't try to take it from me."

His body tucked between the mattress and soft comforter, Louis curls into an appropriately sized  
ball. He sniffs and turns his back to Harry's unmade, messy bedside half of the room. Edward  
doesn't linger long and when he's out of sight, Louis feels the panic settle.

"Where are you-"

"I'm here." Edward draws the heavy curtains closed and comes back to the King bed with just  
boxers on. "Harry won't come near you here."

Louis' expression scrunches up. How is he lying on a bed so near to Harry's going to keep him away  
from the lunatic?

"We made a promise, a pact if you will." Edward folds one leg under his other as he seats himself  
near Louis. "He will not go near my bed and I won't go near his."

Louis nods, relaxing minutely against the luxurious pillows. They're perfectly soft and frame his  
body from the shoulders up the way it should. He can still hear the aftermath of the racket Harry  
caused downstairs, as it is obvious the man is raving mad at the product of his plan.

"A clever promise." Louis commends sweetly. He is hardly a mass under the covers and Edward is  
deeply tempted to cloak his small presence with his body.

Instead he smiles in appreciation at Louis' approval and wakes up again to walk to the other side.  
He pulls back the covers and Louis holds his breath while Edward gets in under the warm sheets. 

"What are you-"

"This _is_ my bed, petal." Edward flashes him a decent crooked smirk.

Unable to help it, Louis' amusement and his personality from circumstances where he's more  
comfortable shines through. He giggles. "Stop interrupting my questions."

Edward gets close enough to him so his laugh is audible under his soft volume. He's fascinated with  
Louis and wants to keep his distance but also get close enough to consume every bit of consent the  
boy offers him.

"How many people have you done this with before?" Louis asks, a hand tucked under the side of his  
face.

"What would you call this?" Edward questions, coy as ever. Louis rolls his eyes and shrugs.  
"Cuddling?"

Edward's eyes widen comically although he doesn't mean to, the green dilating across a larger  
surface area. "_Cuddling_, petal?"

Another shrug from Louis. "You've never cuddled before? You sound terribly disadvantaged."

"I'm afraid I am, petal."

Louis doesn't waste time and reaches his arms across the distance and does what he shouldn't do  
with a right mind. He wraps his arms up and around Edward's neck, dragging himself over the space  
with bunching sheets around him. The older male doesn't react much besides take a moment to be  
surprised, then reel Louis in with his inhuman strength.

"Is this all I've been missing out on?" He feels the press of Louis' little body against his, and it  
makes his heart beat a little faster but nothing noticeable from the exterior.

There's a small laugh under his chin that pushes Edward to wind the other jobless arm around Louis'  
hips. No argument. No resistance. He swallows his sigh of relief and turns it into a regular breath  
out. Louis remains perfectly still with his forehead against Edward's chest, mapping out the freckles  
and dimples between muscle points.

He's certainly surprised when Edward didn't push him away so he took a little comfort in the  
blanketing presence. His fingers were curled inwards towards his palms and he knows Edward can  
feel the brush of his eyelashes when he blinked.

The thing about Edward's body was that it's so _terribly ideal_. He has a straight back with just  
enough strength in muscle to make a person exposed to it melt into baking butter. Now, held up  
against him Louis can see how Edward would be a nice suitor to anyone he chose.

"Why is your hair so blond?" Louis hates silences so he decides to fill it.

"_So_ blond?" Edward mimics in mockery.

Louis feels the need to offer an amusing explanation. "Ordinary blond doesn't cover it." 

Edward's laughter shakes his shoulders just the slightest and Louis takes some pride in knowing he  
hasn't lost his sense of humour even in tough times.

"This is our natural hair colour, petal." He explains casually, then a short burst of laughter leaves  
him. "Harry dyed his hair because he thought it suited him better."

"Oh." Louis finds this interesting. "Good on both of you."

Edward rubs Louis' back once from shoulder to base. "Do you actually want to sleep, petal?"

Louis' yawn is perfectly timed and Edward shifts his gaze to observe the 'O' shape forming on  
Louis' lips and the flutter of his eyelids. He settles into the shape he had made previously and let's  
the exhaustion from days drill into his system.

The boy is asleep when Edward whispers to him. "Why don't you dream of me?"

* * * * *

A crash wakes Louis up just moments after Edward wakes up before anything can happen.

"Don't-" Edward tried to stop his fuming brother from acting out.

"How _dare_ you?!" Harry, in clingy navy jeans with faded knees and nothing else, topples the  
desk beside the door.

Louis knew the sight he'd be met with if he turned around and how much it would scare him, but he  
moved his body anyway. Edward tried to hold him back from falling over the edge with his vine of  
an arm pressing into Louis' tummy under the bunched up shirt he donned.

"Brother, calm down." Edward pushed himself up to be propped on his palm.

"No!" Harry bellowed. His nostrils were flared and his eyes were wide enough to be intimidating.  
His fists were curled with enough ferocity to have the vein in his neck bulging.

"Fuck!" Harry punched the wall to release some of the coils of nagging demons drenching  
themselves in the thought pools of his mind.

Louis has never seen a person so angry.

Edward sighs behind Louis, giving up the fight he's been trying to avoid. He probably have locked  
the bedroom door when he closed the windows and shut the curtains. He could also have not gotten  
into bed with Louis - his petal - but how could he deprive himself?

"Why did you take this from me?!" He felt well and thoroughly shaken up by the restriction of his  
own honour to the pact he and his brother made. The wear-and-tear of his mind was escalating  
dangerously.

Louis touched Edward's forearm before the man could speak. He sat up too and Harry's eyes  
followed every motion of his body like a hawk. "Love?"

Two heads roll in his direction at that moment in frozen time. Louis knows what he's doing. No, he  
really doesn't but that's what he's telling himself after hearing everything Edward told him about  
Harry. Louis heard Edward's voice in his head and that's what gave him the final push.

Harry seems to be having the hardest time processing Louis' vocal endearment. His anger fans out  
so suddenly Louis fears he's going to collapse. The redness falls from his complexion and is  
replaced by confusion. Vivid, perplexing confusion.

Time resumes itself because Harry has decided how to respond and the heartbroken look in his eye  
dies along with Louis' trepidation and Edward's fear.

"Love?" Harry's bottom lip starts to _wobble_ and Louis doesn't have a clue on how to react to  
this.

How _does_ one respond to a psychopath with a quivering lip and temper of hot coal?  
Louis kicks off the covers from where he was suspiciously tucked in quite neatly and Edward  
just....let's him go. There's a flare of something not pretty in Edward's chest as he watches Louis get  
closer to his ticking time bomb of a sibling. He doesn't let it show because if he didn't want this, he  
would not have told Louis those things.

"You okay?" Louis doesn't touch Harry the way he's brave enough to with Edward.

Harry spoke with an unfairly low volume, leaving Louis to listen carefully or miss a word. "You  
called me love."

Mr. Mercurial. Louis changes Harry's name in his head from Grizzly to that. It's far more apt. "I did,  
didn't I?"

Edward was there suddenly, standing behind Louis without being too near to the boy. He's just a  
security measure. Harry hardly notices him and that's a first for everyone. He'd rather bury his face  
in the promising soft pudginess of Louis' tummy, so that's what he does.

"Harry?" Louis croaks.

He refrains from touching the arms squeezing his waist or the face hiding in his abdomen. He  
flinches at original contact but the bitter memory of when Harry 'inspected' him during their first  
meeting comes floating back unwelcome. Harry had pointed out something on his tummy and  
clearly, the infatuation stuck.

Edward's words come back to him as well. _Be firm_, he said. Louis bites his lip and looks at  
the man behind him but is met with empty eyes and no words.

"Harry." He reaches behind him without a front of hesitation and unclasps Harry's slim hands. "Let  
go."

His voice is edgier and a little more no-nonsense. Harry's heartbroken expression returns when he  
looks up at Louis from his kneeling position. Louis remains resolved.

"Why?" Harry has his wobbly lip in action again and he looks breathtakingly convincing with his  
dismay.

Louis opens his mouth and to keep a squeak from escaping, he bites the inside of his cheek.  
Harry takes his as a small victory and valiantly tightens his hold now on Louis' curvy hips. "I don't  
want to."

Before Harry's face can touch ground with Louis' tummy again, the boy steps back and incidentally  
bumps Edward's chest. He doesn't mind that and pulls Harry's hands off his body with force. His  
rebuke makes Harry scramble to his feet so he's back to six foot something and scary.

"You broke your promise." Louis has to keep himself together when thinking about Anthony and the  
tree out back. "Promises are very important to me, Harry."

Edward suspected Louis would take an approach like this so he schools his exposure into calm and  
collected. Harry is much more twisted and not in any way is it something desirable with anger  
issues and attractive stances. He feels caught up in a horrible web and it scares him, as frightening  
as he already is.

"I-I'm sorry, petal." He's helpless, like a fish out of water, as he appears more forthcoming and  
sweet. "I won't do it again."

"You won't?" Louis presses. It's not enough to make a regular Joe promise but Harry's not a regular  
Joe.

"Won't." He even shakes his head to validate his word. "Ever."

"Good. Thank you." Louis swallows hard, the lump of emotions and accomplishment. He's a bit  
shaky after what he's done so boldly, explicitly confident.

Edward resurfaces to the land of the living at that moment. He sets his hands on Louis' waist,  
fanning his fingers out on the slender structure and feels the bump of ribs under his press. Harry's  
eyes dart to where he's touching Louis but he's not so angry now because Louis and he are on good  
terms.

"Good job, petal." Edward whispers in Louis' ear, mysteriously wet lips grazing the fine hairs of the  
boy's neck.

He's not even trying to be dark and seductive in any way but Louis has to fight himself to not shut  
his eyes and moan. Harry doesn't know if he's allowed to touch his petal yet so he asks.  
"Can I....?" He's already in the tiny bubble space they've created for themselves so that's all that's  
missing.

Louis shivers at Edward's hands moving lower and nods just quickly enough to be noticed. Edward  
latches onto his neck away from the bandage and his arm snakes around Louis' front. Harry leans in  
just enough to flatten his hand at the base of Louis' back, his lips trailing up the safe side of the  
boy's neck.

The texture of goosebumps makes him groan and Louis has to throw his head back to allow them  
more access. Edward slips his hand under Louis' shirt and tilts his head away from Harry's so their  
lips meet. It's a blinding moment for Louis when he recalls the struggle of getting Edward to kiss   
him. He feels the hesitation even now when his tongue flicks the impenetrable barrier of Edward's  
clenched teeth.

Harry knows he can't kiss Louis' lips yet and it bugs him above any measure. He wants to be as  
close to the boy as his brother is but he's smart enough to know Louis wants his proven loyalty first.  
In this stead, he sticks to using his mouth on surfaces of Louis' skin to get a reaction. At some point  
he does something right because Louis mewls and his hand around Harry's wrist tightens.

Edward doesn't loosen up until Louis moves a hand to the side of his face and experimentally runs  
his tongue along the pattern of teeth. He reaches gum and the man is weak enough at this stage to  
open his mouth for this kiss. Louis loses the fight for dominance after that and with Harry's hands  
roaming uncensored, he let's Edward do as he pleases.

The raunchiness of their interaction dims when Louis realises that it's the middle of the day on a  
weekday. He pulls himself away from Edward's insistent and persistent lips, as well as Harry's well  
behaved paws that hold onto his sides.

"I need to get back to work." Louis announces with a tired sigh. He simply cannot imagine going  
back to work after the day he's had.

"I'll drive you." Harry offers first. He's got blown-out pupils and extra red lips that are puffy from  
all his ministrations on Louis' body.

"You don't have a licence, brother." Edward reminds him, amusedly glancing over Louis' shoulder.  
Louis giggles. Harry shrugs like it's no big deal and Edward clears his throat.

"I'm going to get dressed." Louis squeezes his way out of the cage he was caught up in.

Harry flops down onto his own bed like a teenager who just got his crush to kiss him. Edward licks  
his lips and stands at the foot of Harry's bed, waiting to be noticed. Harry sits up at the displeasure  
his brother is making him face in such abundance.

He knows that he's in for a kind of punishment when his brother returns because Edward was - and  
still is - very particular about things concerning Louis. Freelancing is not allowed and Harry  
managed to derail himself quite freakishly.

"I know." Is all he tells his older brother.

"Good."

* * * * *

"What on _Earth_ happened to my car?!" Louis shouted to the many people surrounding his  
Audi the second he jumped down from the Rover.

Louis' Audi's windscreen was smashed with the brick in question still sitting in the deep crater it  
created. The driver's side window was cracked and a scrape deep enough to expose the innards of  
the vehicle ran along both the passenger side doors. 

The nuns that were standing idle and useless scurried away while Reverend James stuck back to  
explain to Louis what happened with Dr. Murs and a staff nurse. All three sets of eyes passed from  
the expectant face of Louis to the new appearance of Edward.

"A patient had a small tantrum." Reverend James gave everyone a wry smile but Louis was having  
none of it.

"So you allow patients to vent their anger on your staff's personal property?" Louis didn't yell but it  
took a great deal of energy to contain it all.

"He got loose, Louis." Dr. Murs steps in. "Ran out of the psychiatric ward and did this before  
anyone could get to him."

Louis looked at the car he worked towards buying and now has to pay thousands in repair fees  
because these people can't keep their nurses on high alert. He wanted to cry. "Crap."

"The foundation running this institution will be happy to pay for all the damages." Reverend James  
tried to patch things up.

"Half the fees." Louis clarified, looking the Reverend in his eye. "The other half goes towards  
employing more vigilant keepers."

He knew he was out of line by saying that but he was so angry he couldn't bring on the feeling of  
regret. That's his first ever car that's been in his name and he's had it since he was eighteen. It had a  
special place in his memory so sue him for lashing out.

"I will write you a cheque later." Reverend said, still so polite but even he has glanced thrice over  
Louis' shoulder.

Louis nods stiffly. He hates taking money from anyone who isn't his father for his allowance and  
Dr. Murs with his salary.

"The tow truck is here to take it to the best garage in Middleston." Dr. Murs has his hands in his  
pockets, sticking the strong winds whipping his white coat just to see a former patient a little longer.  
"I'll sign the papers and be back then." Louis spins around on his heel and pointedly ignores the  
sympathetic look from Edward. "Don't do that to me."

Such simple words spoken everyday by people of foreign and native lands but this time it's enough  
to have everyone looking. Dr. Murs forgets to close his mouth and the cold bites his sensitive teeth  
at the nerve. Edward smirks and turns around with Louis to meet the tow truck driver.

"You're sad and I'm sympathetic." Edward says to him, watching Louis' hand dart across pages as he  
signs his initials.

"Then stop it." Louis hands back the clipboard. Even the mechanic is staring. "Oh for crying out  
loud."

The mechanic ropes and clips Louis' Audi's bonnet to the hook at the back of his truck. Edward  
steps in front of Louis to get his full attention. 

"Thanks." Louis mumbles as his car is dragged out of the parking lot by an old truck with new  
prints.

"Hey, petal." Edward extends himself and reels Louis into his arms. "I'll pick you up later."

Louis shakes his head and closes his eyes to keep his eyeballs from freezing in the howling wind.  
"It's fine."

"You mean to catch a lift with that Liam friend of yours?" Edward doesn't have much on besides a  
white shirt with three buttons at the top to create a V-neck, black jeans and boots. "If so, I should  
tell you that I'll be here at four and if you're not here I will be very pissed off."

A giggle bubbles out of Louis unexpectedly and he separates from Edward to look up at him. "I'll be  
here."

Edward puts his three fingers in his jeans front pockets. The air blowing so violently has messed up  
his hair and left it flattened to the side. The red colour burst of his lips drew back over his teeth  
when he was amused and it was a beautiful enough sight to be terrifying.

* * * * *

Louis had a pile of work awaiting his return when he was seated at his desk again. Someone  
brought his plan for the day to his desk and scratches were everywhere indicating time changes  
from when he was gone. He frowned as he tried to decipher the correct times before entering them  
in his diary.

His phone with half its battery life left sat dead at his side while he sorted through paperwork and  
filed the final report on Perrie the Landscaper. She's due to be discharged tomorrow into the custody  
of her mother and Louis is thankful he doesn't have a last meeting with her.

He has two meetings to be completed by three o'clock if he's going to have their reports done by  
four the latest. He does not see that happening with the amount of time he has to spend editing Dr.  
Murs' schedule for outdoor activities according to each patient's requirements.

"Lou?" Dr. Murs disturbs his quiet work time as a floating voice.

"Yes?" He stops reading the chart's fifth page with rubs his eyes tiredly.

His eyes lift from the page to his employer standing there with two mugs, setting one down next to  
his left hand. "It's already two, Louis."

At that moment Louis' phone buzzes with the alarm he set to remind him that he needs to be on the  
move at this time. He thanks Dr. Murs and grabs the files he set aside for his meetings, his phone  
and mug of plain black coffee before leaving the office.

His first meeting is with the late Edmund's cell mate, Rico. He also requests that two male nurses  
follow him inside rather than dead beat police officers. For the first time, he sees a bead of worry  
rush across their eyes. He finishes with Rico in time for his second meeting across the block. This  
patient is Natalia and she's a very quiet one, so Louis tells the nurses to let him handle this on his  
own. 

Natalia is a girl a few years older than Louis and has the awful habit of biting her hair so all the tips  
are spit-covered and matted. Louis sits across from her all the same and keeps his valuable  
belongings on his lap.

"Hi, Natalia." He greets her with a warm smile.

Her vision flickers to life like she had her eyes closed this whole time and looks at him curiously.  
"Louis?"

"That's me." His smile broadens. "How do you remember me?"

"How's your neck?"

His smile fades significantly. "Fine. Why do you ask?"

"Everyone knows what happened to it." She crosses her legs on the hard steel chair. "Some people  
think you're satanic now, others want to be like you."

"We're going to talk about you now, alright? How have you been since I last saw you?"

"They say you shouldn't fuck them both. You'll die if you do."

"Natalia." He warns, but they're both aware already of the lingering nurses outside with sedatives.  
"We're talking about you."

"There's a weird smell in my cell at night." She abruptly changes topics and starts staring out the  
barred window. "Like damp wood and blood."

"Every night?" He asks, not bothering to jot down points as his phone records the conversation. He  
wishes he hadn't finished that entire mug of

"Every night. Do you have a smoke?"

"You know you shouldn't be smoking, in here or anywhere."

"The nice nurse guy...._Buddy_ gives me a smoke-" She replies smoothly. "-right before he  
comes into my room and sticks his hand down my shirt."

Louis stares at his patient with mixed feelings. "He rapes you?"

"Every night." She repeats her answer from before. "Check the cameras, if they haven't erased the  
footage."

* * * * *

Harry groans and remains plastered to his bed on his front. He's well aware that he can't fight it but  
that doesn't mean he will go easily. That was his initial gusto but now he's just exhausted and the  
sweat draining out from his pores has turned sticky over his wait. 

"What the fuck were you thinking?" Edward had the whip around the lowest concave of Harry's  
waist. He tugged on the handle he gripped tightly when he got no response.

Harry's got no energy left in him because even if he does visit the gym and creates an excellent  
stamina for himself, there are days when he just forgets to go. That now meant him lying pliant and  
bare with his breathing reduced to frantic gasps.

"You want me to _guess_?!" Edward is slightly breathless himself. He stopped himself from  
doing the usual routine of taping Harry's mouth shut while he fucked him, only because he wants  
answers now.

"I wasn't thinking." Harry mumbles, biting his pillow in the midst and saliva getting all over the  
unique fabric.

"What?" Edward yanks on the leather whip so hard that if Harry didn't buck up and kneel, it would  
have sliced his skin.

"I wasn't thinking!" Harry crowed, his knuckles blistering white while he groped for something to  
hold onto.

Edward sighed and undid the loop of the whip roping Harry in. The latter male collapsed back onto  
his sheets like a hollow vessel.

"Hurt?" Edward asks as he tosses the whip aside and tries to stop Harry from shuffling away from  
him.

"My arse." Harry grumbled, not bashfully.

"You deserved it."

"I know."

* * * * *

Checking the camera footage regarding Natalia's issue is the first thing Louis does after his time  
with her is up. He plays nice with everyone because he isn't exactly sure which male nurse is Buddy  
so with permission from Reverend James, he searches through overnight footage. There's evidence  
of the rape occurring each night in Natalia's cell and Louis raises the question on why none of this  
was being reported.

Reverend writes to the board of managers and donors about this, as well as firing all the culprits that  
add up to four people. It becomes one of the most gruelling days of Louis' life when at 15h43 he's  
not anywhere near being done for the day. He allows Dr. Murs to handle the affairs of Natalia's case  
while he completes her file in his office with the recording of their interview and transcript of  
report.

Most of the workers are gone home and all the night shift employees are making their way in. Dr.  
Murs stayed in late with Reverend and Louis had joined their little intervention when he delivered  
Natalia's patient file to them. They quizzed him and documented things from his witness eye-view. 

"The police are coming in tomorrow for an official statement." Dr. Murs made certain to look at  
Louis. "Can you make sure she's ready to do that?"

"What time will they be here?" Louis asks.

"Twelve."

Louis takes out his calendar on his phone and makes a note of that. For a Friday, tomorrow isn't  
looking pretty enough to be worth celebrating. He excuses himself to finish the patient file of Rico  
by uploading their interview and doing his professional write-up on it.

"Got a second?" Liam knocks on Louis' door with his knuckle.

"The next person to interrupt me is getting shot." Louis doesn't look up from his screen. "Have a  
seat."

His phone rings and Liam laughs as he sits himself down in the chair opposite to Louis at his desk.  
Louis holds up his finger and checks the caller identification on his iPhone, frowns and answers  
anyway.

"Hello?" He gives the caller his full attention and sits back in his chair, batting Liam's hands away  
from his keyboard.

Edward held his phone against his ear as the wind cruelly whacked anyone in the face as they  
walked, jogged and dodged. "I believe I was promised your presence outside this institute of mental  
deterioration."

Louis felt an eye roll coming on along with a smile at his computer screen. "How did you get my  
number?"

"I asked someone."

"I'll be out in-" Louis glances at the time at the corner of his screen then Liam's pout. "-twenty  
minutes. Is that okay?"

"You get nineteen." Edward chuckles and hangs up.

Louis blows out a stubborn exhale with his bottom lip jutted out.

"Sorry 'bout that." He apologises to Liam and gathers the work he'll have to do at home. "What did  
you want to talk to me about?"

Liam drops the set of coloured pens he was playing with and Louis sets it atop the pile of work he  
has. He brings Louis up to date on everything concerning Edmund's case. There's no new  
developments but Liam spent the day meeting the coroner, Edmund's cell mate who Louis also met  
today, the nurses who went in and out of his cell.

"There are no cameras in the section." Louis informs Liam on their walk out after locking his office.  
"Why not?"

Louis shrugs. "Lack of funds is the reason we get."

They walk down the hall together with just the noise of their shoes clanking on sticky linoleum.  
Louis does a mental check of everything he's supposed to have and curses in a very PG way when  
he realises he left the USB containing his interviews back in the office.

"I'll um...see you tomorrow?" Louis waves to Liam as he rushes back down the hall the way he  
came.

Skidding to a halt, Louis tries to keep his handful of papers from falling to the unhygienic floors. He  
tucks them all into his bag, spending a moment in the quiet shadow in the crook that's part of the  
passageway. He's extracting his keys from his front pocket when a foul smell reaches his nose and  
makes him momentarily gag from the pungent power it packs.

He covers his mouth and nose as he finally gets the key into the knob and shoves it open. Flipping  
on the light switch, his office was illuminated again as well as part of the hallway he'd just exited.  
Standing behind him for the entire duration of his key-fumbling and file-juggling experience, was a  
person lean enough to bend over his height. If Louis had turned around instead of immediately  
going to his desk space, he'd have seen the face of this person who had a nightmarish curve to both  
his eyebrows, an upper lip that was torn to raw tissue at the side and hair that stood at all angles. It  
was purely a face bred to terrify people to death.

Louis grabbed the lidless USB under the Verbatim brand name and dashed out the door again. His  
locking process was more efficient and with the stench absent, he was out of there in no time.  
"Eighteen minutes!" Louis had to shout above the screeching of the wind circling him and the figure  
leaning against a familiar Range Rover.

Edward shook his head and opened the passenger door for Louis to hop in. It took a few tries  
because of the luggage Louis had and that the wind seemed to have a nasty life of its own with a  
personal vendetta to trip him into having a concussion.

"Where's Harry?" Louis makes himself as comfortable as he can. The Styles is a family that looks  
after their assets, an obvious indication being that there isn't a scratch or bit of litter in this giant  
vehicle.

"Tied up at home." Edward keys in the ignition and the engine's purr of life is hardly there.  
Louis stares at Edward's unyielding face as they pull into traffic. "Do you mean-"

"Not literally, petal." Edward relaxes once they're on the highway and sits back in his seat with one  
hand on the steering wheel.

"Hmph." Louis chews the inside of his bottom lip as he turns his attention to his iPhone.

They drove in silence for three solid minutes while Louis checked a few messages from Niall  
informing him that he had a late shift at the bar tonight. They'd just passed onto an off ramp by the  
time someone spoke again.

"Petal?" 

"Why do you call me that?" Louis locked his phone before the giant battery cell could flicker and  
annoy him.

"Well-" Edward stops at the red light a cross-road away from Louis' apartment complex. "-answer  
my request and I'll tell you."

"It's always about deals with you." Louis notes out loud, his pout on full display. He remembers a  
time - days ago - when he'd never have been this comfortable with Edward. "Why can't you just tell  
me?"

"The fun always lies in what greatness you can achieve with the smallest of bargains.""

"Is that a quote?" Louis stops himself from crossing his legs. The force of habit is something that  
now makes him fidgety when one leg isn't angled differently from the other.

"You can quote me, should you wish."

"Such a charmer." Louis muses with brief laughter. "What is your bargain, Styles?"

Edward side glances at him with a crook in the curve of his mouth to depict his obvious amusement.  
"I propose, in exchange for the answer to your question, you accompany my brother and I on  
another date."

They have arrived in the underground parking lot for Louis' place but Louis doesn't move to get out  
and Edward doesn't move to aid him. The brothers want a do-over from Louis?

"A date?"

"Indeed."

"Where will you two take me?"

Edward takes a silent moment to consider this, his eyes following someone as they scurry across the  
garage to the elevator bank. "Most probably something spontaneous and cliché. Do you agree to it?"  
"When are you planning this....spontaneous and cliché date?" Louis gets the door handle between  
his fingers and keeps it in a position of uncertainty.

"Tomorrow."

"I'll think about it." Louis opens the door and swiftly jumps down to the concrete ground.

Edward gets off to follow the infuriating boy he calls petal regularly. He locks the Range Rover and  
listen to the irresponsible screech of tyres trying to fit into parking spaces some blocks down. Louis  
gives him a quizzical look as he walks briskly towards the elevators himself, pushed on from his  
usual cruise mode by the strong winds.

"Where do you thing you're going?" Louis jabs the correct button on the panel and rocks back on  
his heels.

"I'm escorting you, petal."

"Is that necessary?"

"Who knows what peril may lie ahead?"

The elevator doors slide open and Edward extends his arm towards its warm interior, ushering  
Louis in ahead of him. Louis rolls his eyes and steps in, immediately finding his floor number on  
the golden box of choices and presses it. Edward is about to end his internal argument on whether to  
go or stay when a pair of male surfer strangers - most likely from the skidding tyres - squeeze their  
way in.

He chooses to stay.

Louis doesn't seem to mind them or pay any attention to the drunken idiots swaying in their  
stagnant positions. Edward's domineering nature to keep Louis tucked away for him and Harry  
leads him to winding an arm around the boy's waist just as the doors close.

His subject looks up at him from the side of him that's away from the suspicious blokes with a  
concerned and confused knitted brow. Edward shakes his head very slightly and Louis almost  
convinces himself to object to the controlling demeanour he's hidden under. That is only until one of  
the two others in their company shoves the other, and there's a fleeting thought of Louis' collision  
with a mirrored wall.

Edward stops any such reaction by pulling Louis towards the back and the boy's clumsy tendency  
gets his shoe snagged in a dip on the ground. He stumbles and Edward seizes his hips before a fatal  
lunge.

"Sorry, y'all." The shover apologies with a stifled burp and Louis' closer companion had his nose  
pressed to the feathery tuft of hair on his head.

"It's okay." Louis gives him a tiny polite smile and looks away at the ascending number above the  
door.

It gets to the desired digit and Louis ignores the weight press of his bag, the struggle to maintain a  
grip on his slipping phone and locating his keys to hurry out of the iron cage. Edward follows right  
behind him with soundless footsteps and the shuffling of his heavy grey coat halts with Louis when  
the boy's back faces him to unlock the front door.

The first hand to touch Louis' body is Edward's right and it slides with more enthusiasm than  
regular sensuality to the front, flattening over Louis' tummy. His reaction is to drop his keys and  
gasp with a loud enough sound for it to entail an echo across the vacant hallway.

Edward moves the tip of his nose to the hairline below Louis' ear. His body leans just the slightest  
bit forward and Louis' hands curl into his fists against the numbered door. He's doesn't know what  
Edward's trying to accomplish _in the middle of a public hallway_ but his otherwise motivated  
body let's him go ahead with it anyway.

The hand from Louis' front moves to one of his wrists, wrapping the fist up in a case of Edward's  
paper pale fingers that hold onto him so tightly. Louis' lips fall apart and his eyelids slip shut at the  
warm press of Edward's chest on his back. The broader shape of the former makes Louis feel like  
he's tucked away in a corner even if they're simply standing indecently in a passage. 

With Edward nosing along the line of well-trimmed hair and delectable soft skin, Louis releases a  
small whimper from the cold dryness of his own mouth. He sucks his bottom lip into his mouth and  
uses his free hand to snake a path upwards to Edward's nape and bring him closer.

Public display of lewdness forgotten, Edward groans when Louis' fingers knot his hair and his face  
is hidden so snugly in the crook of Louis' neck. His other arm forms a possessive belt around Louis'  
middle where the slender figure drives his temptation through the roof.

"Remember what I promised?" Edward stepped forward with his leg between both of Louis' thighs.

The layer of jean cloth is not enough to keep Edward from feeling the crevice of the space between  
Louis' thighs and how it was tightening. He couldn't think of a person who would assume they were  
innocent at the moment.

"Hardest fuck of my life?" Louis grinded his hips and Edward made a guttural noise from deep  
inside his chest. "Bring it on."


	10. Chapter Nine

***LOUIS' POV***

There have to be at most three marks branded into the skin of my neck by the time I've gotten the  
keys back in my hand. The muscle beneath those bruises are exercised by the work of Edward's lips  
sucking and avoiding the use of his teeth. His act of crowding me against the door leaves me  
blinded while unlocking the door and shuddering so evidently when he breathes puffs of hot air  
between the fibers of my arousal.

When the door flies ope it manages to bounce off the table behind it and make an obnoxious rattling  
sound. My files are taken from me and my hand is captured to be led into my own apartment before  
the door is sealed. The papers are dumped on the aforementioned table, with no task of completing  
them in the near future.

Edward abandons my hand when he corners me between the table and wall bend heading for the  
comfort of my living room. My hands fall to the mercy of Edward's belt loops, fingers curling  
through them and feeling the resultant smirk against my throat. Teeth scrape my Adam's Apple and I  
choke back a whimper when lips seal around it. A small and insufficient suckle is placed there  
before moving on.

A hand adequately large enough to circle my neck lands on my thigh, squeezing until the flesh  
hidden by my pants is flushed and in pain slightly. I whine from the hot contact and pull Edward  
between my legs to where friction is absent but in dire need. My noises are smoothed out by  
Edward's lips finding mine but not satisfying the burn of desire just yet.

My eyes fly open from their hibernating state to find Edward watching me, completely still except  
for the tapping of his fingertips on the underside of my thigh.

"One is not going to be enough." Edward's paw moves from the door to my cheek, his thumb  
grazing back and forth over my cheekbone as his eyes burrow into mine earnestly. "Not with you."  
I touch his wrist with my humble fingertips and find the contact deepened by the straining of his  
veins through skin. It's as if he's grasping onto something so tightly and fiercely, but his actual hold  
on the side of my face is undeniably gentle.

There's a fire somewhere burning like the flames of war that is simply inextinguishable with water  
and sand. My ravenous body will be mourning the loss of something far more uncensored if this  
does not get a move on.

"I know." I breathily reply, squeaking when my leg is hiked up at an angle to rest on Edward's hip.  
"You don't have to stop." _Ever._

Edward, in the absent light of my empty apartment, renders a blush to my cheeks when he doesn't  
smirk or confidently chuckle. His molten stare softens at the corners like the chipping away of  
rounded emerald, and he closes the distance between our mouths.

Having this kiss felt like the break of a fast after starving myself. I moaned involuntarily without  
regret and carded one hand through Edward's quiff of hair, tugging on the curly tips and scraping   
his scalp with my fingernails. His concentration faltered at the latter deed and his groan flittered  
through our union to rupture the small strain of self-restraint I possessed.

His mouth sealed over mine as his hand encircled the shape of my thigh, one nibbling and the other  
squeezing. I was panting for breath but he didn't care, his lips moved where mine did. At last when I  
was certain I had enough space to do it without tumbling into humiliation, I clasped Edward's  
shoulders with both hands and separated from our indecent kiss to jump.

He was pleased with my convenient action and fell forward so I was pressed against the door. My  
back arched to make room but his palm pushed down on my middle to reposition me again. I was  
too far gone at this point and removed the restriction digging into my stomach to pull him towards  
me. The hunger from our kiss spiralled into me shoving off his too exepensive ashen coat, and he  
reaching for the hem of my shirt. It got tugged over my head and flung across the doorway  
carelessly.

I was forced to keep supporting myself by holding onto his shoulders as his sinful mouth latched  
onto the new skin that's free to be his victim. He hitched my thighs higher and tighter around him,  
bringing my ankles close enough together to be locked at his back. Moving lower and lower until he  
reached the erect nubs of my nipples. By this point my pants were beginning to hurt around the  
throbbing of my own erection and judging by the bulge pressing into my thigh, he's experiencing  
the same issue.

"Bedroom." I manage to pull from my fumbling vocab, silently screaming when he kitten licked my  
sensitive left nipple.

He grunted and pulled my away from the door. When he spoke it was without lifting his mouth or  
gaze. "Where is it, petal?"

"H-_Hallway!_" I raise my voice by several octaves when he suckles on the dusky nipple until  
it's pink and raw enough to ache.

His legs move after he's deemed me aroused and sensitised enough to lean completely on him. He  
makes the trip to the hallway and I set my head on his shoulder, tilting my chin so I can have access  
to his neck. My hand, however less powerful than his, comes up to the other side of his neck where  
the race of his jugular is felt.

I let the scent and essence of himself - the cologne, the taste of his skin, the grip he has on my  
desperate body - take control of my actions. My teeth sink into the nearest spot of skin and the  
reverberations of his groan earthed from his throat is felt against my tongue.

"Keep it off." I whisper when we finally get to my room and he reaches for the light switch, with  
the bite of my teeth hanging off his earlobe.

He makes a sound of consent and swings the door shut behind us. "Don't want to see me that much,  
petal?"

I shake my head, the heat in my cheeks being another reason to be thankful for no lighting. "Want  
you to be the only thing I see."

A rush of air gushes out of lungs when I'm dumped onto my own unmade bed. The impact caused  
me to bounce on the springs so slightly that I hardly got nauseous, before the anchor of Edward's  
hands on my ankles had me paying attention to something else.

Edward stands at the end of my imported bed with blank eyes and subdued desire as alight and  
ignited as my own. His appearance was dullened by the lack of even moonlight coming through my  
curtains, as he got ahold of my ankles again and pried my shoes off. Taking this as a divine sign, I  
reach for the button on my jeans and undo it.

"Don't." He gets my other shoe off and dumps it somewhere on the floor. "Only I will undress you,  
petal."

I find this unreasonable with such painful enthusiasm stamping out logic and thought in my feral  
mind. I pout but withdraw my hands obediently.

"Redo it." He instructs me, another unordinary request coming to life.

Tucking my hands at a lower position, I button the metal tab again and notice Edward watching me  
do it. He's stopped all that he was doing before and resumed once my hands were safely at my sides  
and jobless. The flow of my blood to a region of private standards is driving me mad this time  
because it's growing to be uncomfortable. No pun intended.

He peels my socks off and _finally_ bends over me with the crooks of my knees hooked over  
his hips. His body leans forward in such a way that I almost predict exactly where he'll stop, except  
he doesn't. His arms quiver just the tiniest bit as he lowers himself until the tip of his nose is teasing  
the almost invisible fine hairs on my tummy.

His face is pressing into that area with his mouth parted and sharp teeth poking at odd points within  
the region he's closed off with his gaping mouth. That touch turns into a kiss with plump and  
swollen cushions closing in just above my belly button. I shiver at the wetness of the flesh being  
held against me, the skin that's usually hidden in a kiss because it stays inside his mouth.  
Edward's nimble fingers take the notorious button of my jeans and pops it through the hoop of  
fabric, effectively sliding the tiny silver zipper down its path as well. The relief is minimal and I  
feel like I'm burning up despite being so unclothed and bare. Cotton and silk rub against my thighs  
from his shirt, leaving my body's goosebumps in its path. One leg at a time he removes the clothing  
item from my body until I'm down to my underwear.

"Up." He gestures with his hand for me to move forward. "Kneel on the bed."

I obey with a vain kind of eagerness. The sooner I do as told, the faster we can get this show on the  
road. I bite my lip and flick my annoying fringe out of my eyes.

"I think it would be only fair if you got to return the favour." He took my hands and placed them on  
his chest where the first button of his shirt lay.

My task is completed dutifully. I unbutton each obstruction on his designer shirt - that's ugly as all  
Hell - and discard it just as he had done to my shirt. When my hands return to his insanely well-kept  
body where the curves were absent or precious muscle, he captures my lips with his again. I wrap  
my arms around his neck as is customary, and deepen the kiss with my tongue flicking the stubborn  
tip of his.

***NARRATOR'S POV***

Edward tilts his head to the side, acqueiscing to Louis' act of creating an even bigger desperate mess  
of their kiss. He battles to not use all the instruments at his disposal to keep Louis from hurting  
himself but the boy is as stubborn and defiant as he is. He's forced to pull away when he feels Louis  
trace the pointed tip of his upper canine.

"Stop doing that." Louis wraps himself around Edward's body and relaxes from the slide of his  
limbs when the man grips his behind through his boxer briefs. "You won't hurt me."

"I will-" Edward nips at a corner of the bandage taped to Louis' neck. "-and I'm afraid that I won't  
be able to stop."

Louis puts a little distance between their chests at that comment and frowns despite the ache for  
pleasure in his groin and lower pits of his abdomen. "What are you talking about?"

"This." Edward bumps Louis' jaw to the side with his cheek and recaptures the bit of skin he'd once  
claimed. He sucks for a moment until it's red and pronounced.

"O-Oh." Louis stuttered and sealed his eyelids over his eyes again. He gripped Edward's biceps with  
his nails beginning to hurt the flesh underneath it with the strength of his hold.

"Can't stop now." Edward sends Louis plummeting towards the bed again, letting him land on his  
back before concealing the boy's body with his own.

***LOUIS' POV***

I'm torn apart by the contraints of something as simple as elasticated cotton around my bulging  
arousal. Edward doesn't seem to be taking particular pleasure in my discomfort, for he slots a leg  
between both of mine and rolls his body upward. It gets me breathless and raggedly heaving, my  
eyes transfixed behind blackness. I grip his hips and silently pray he does it once more.

He _does_ and I forget that other people reside in this building because I'm releasing  
embarrasing noises of a high volume. Edward's hips roll so harshly but so perfectly positioned  
between my thighs that I can't think of anything besides him moving the way he is. I choke on a  
moan that's the result of Edward grinding down in hasty circles with our blocked erections rubbing  
off on one another.

The tightening pit in the deepest part of my abdomen begins to quake and I find my back arching as  
the climax rapidly approaches. Edward stretches his forearms out on either side of my head and  
continues his punishing motions with a lip sucked between his teeth. I can't resist the temptation to  
pull myself up and connect our mouths for something sweeter.

His hands grip my thighs as the fabric of his crotch area rubs obsessively over mine and I begin to  
cry out in broken sounds, my head rolling back and mouth falling open. The orgasm is threatening  
to be powerful after being prolonged in waiting, and I start to roll my hips down against his in fast  
thrusts to get it nearer to me.

"Slow down, my petal." He nips at the lobe of my ear and sinks his teeth into the ultra soft spot just  
below.

I whine mindlessly when he stops and hauls himself up into a kneeling position. Risking it all, I  
reach down to apply pressure to my throbbing and neglected length but Edward's tongue folds   
around a 'tsk' sound to warn me. He meets my eyes the entire time he's removing his belt and plants  
a hearty kiss on my belly button when my fear becomes visible through my eyes.

He holds out the length of the leather belt and taps my right hip. In a quick act I arch up off the bed  
and he slips the belt under me, before allowing me fall back. His vision moves to what he's doing  
now instead of my highly confused expression. He sets the belt above my navel and buckles it in  
place so it's tight enough to not fall but not strict enough to hurt.

The remaining belt left over after he closes it at the third loop, becomes a type of handle that he  
uses to command the movements of my body. I shudder in no complaint and extremely dangerous  
pleasure towards the idea. Edward removes his pants after that and drops them to the floor, shuffling  
back up the rustling sheets to me.

He comes close to my eye-level and takes the belt handle, yanking on it so my body is curved into  
his. I stare into his eyes and try to ignore the clawing annoyance of my nether regions. This  
becomes known to him and he kisses me with an open mouth with his fingers loop over the waist  
band of my boxers and draw them down my legs.

I try to sit up and get him to kiss me again when he's gome but he pulls on the belt again and I have  
to remain flat. When he slivers back up to meet my racing vision, he brings my knees with him until  
they're bent nearly to my ears. I hold onto the backs of my thighs when his body weight keeping  
them pressed to my chest becomes too much.

I'm so _exposed_ this way, with my body's most guarded region on display for him. He seems  
to admire it and I don't miss the lick of his lips when his eyes lower to what I'm thinking of.

"You look away-" He trails a dry finger from my sack over my hole and digs it in just enough to  
make me cringe. "-and I'll stop."

We wouldn't want that now would we? He pulls out the fingertip he pushed into me and- _Sweet  
Jesus this man is a giant tease._ I listen to the urgent breathing rapidly beating in and out of my  
as I brought my hands under the crook of my knees to keep them aerial.

Edward lowers himself onto his front at the ideal position in front of me, his hands circling the  
globes of my bum until he's gotten them flushes and tingly. I have to fight the urge to collapse into  
my sheets to maintain eye contact with him when he seems to be having zero struggle, throwing me  
off with a smirk before his mouth is hovering over me.

I feel _so much_ when his hot breath stops floating over my entrance and his hot, wet tongue  
takes its place. The weight of my poor erection sitting on my front with droplets of precome  
emphasising the heaviness. The thickness of the air that's making it that much harder to inhale. The  
second person here with me, lapping at the crease between my cheeks like he can get the sweetest  
taste.

A long strip is initiated to follow the path of Edward's finger earlier. He exposes just the tip of his  
tongue so his exhales are caught on the wetness he leaves behind, chilling the core of my body. I  
watch his eyes blow out to black pearls and I can bet my last dime that I look like a frantic siren  
from the Middle Ages.

"Don't look away, petal." He seems to sense my battle and stretches up on the strain of his arms to  
kiss me, slow and so unlike him. 

I whimper against his mouth and bite his bottom lip in the hopes of earning some mercy. No such  
luck. He let's the war within my loins rage on as he drops back down and runs his hands down my  
thighs in a way that's almost bloody ticklish.

My back bends in a small fold when he prods at my hole again with his skilful muscle. I ache to  
reach between my legs and grab him the hair but I don't see a happy ending for anyone that way. He  
follows the rim of my hole with his tongue, over and over and over....

When I forget the numbers of the count I had been keeping, he's lubing up his thumb by sticking it  
in his mouth then pressing the pad against the fluttering of my exterior. I feel the sphincter give way  
and his finger slip inside, then the wriggle of it against my walls. Biting my lip, I mistakenly allow  
my eyes to close and for my body to stew in the satiating processions.

Edward hums and extracts the thumb. I wait for another finger to join the thumb but I shriek instead  
at the slap delivered to my left cheek. The tears dampening the corners of my eyes cause irritation  
as I blink and glare at Edward.

"I told you not to look away." He admonishes coldly, grabbing me by the belt and yanking me down  
closer to him.

I mewl and mumble an apology that even I can't hear. With that, he kisses the head of my length and  
comes away with lips coated in the fluid it has been giving off. He swipes his tongue over both  
immediately after, lifting my gaze with his again.

He slips his thumb back into me down to the knuckle and the stimulation has my eyes stinging. I dig  
my nails into my own thighs to keep them risen and try my utmost best to not implode with the  
maddening attention to my high-on-pleasure body.

The thumb is removed again and Edward closes his mouth over my more open rim, sucking at short  
intervals as he pushes his tonge past the barrier slowly. His rhythm is meticulous as he sucks and  
prods, sometimes getting just the tip in and other times stretching the burn to allow more.

He looks at me the whole time and I find it impossible to uphold his order. There's too much and too  
little, a battle that must be sorted out with my eyes closed and racing mind focusing on just one  
thing.

"Pl-Please." I lace my fingers through golden strands of hair and tug. "I can't."

"Can't what, petal?" He brings his face up to mine, lips glossy and chin wet.

I lock my legs around his waist just because I can and release his hair. "Can't look."

"You want to close 'em?" He kisses the tip of my nose and I realise that I'm frowning.  
I nod slowly. He waits for a moment before nodding and surprising me. My eyes slip shut  
immediately and Edward lifts my legs up again, indicating that I must still keep them propped. I  
hold them as I was before and rest my head on the pillow.

His index finger slips in one bend at a time and eventually is buried inside me down to the knuckle.  
He was marvelously long fingers and I almost lose the hold on my knees. The fire from earlier has  
turned into something colder but far more nerve-racking and is circulating my body religiously. I  
feel his tongue at me again, as his finger begins to move. 

He hits something spectacular on his third pump and I scream with no regard for neighbours. This  
pleases Edward into pumping faster and his tongue never faltering against it, the tip managing to  
slip in beside the appendage. I pull my legs closer just to feel the stretch in my muscles.

Edward pulls out his finger and locks his mouth around the slightly stretched opening in quick  
succession. He sucks the gasp right out of me when he scratches down my thigh and the red lines  
turn chilled. His teeth touch my skin and he dares to deepen the catch they have on me, not allowing  
the skin to give and be pierced.

My eyes are open at the sensation of him shoving his tongue into me so it _burns_ but burns  
_just right_. I can feel the flicking of his tongue inside me just shallowly and my greedy inner  
submissive wants him _now_. He fucks his tongue in and out me at the rhythm of his finger,  
sometimes slipping but not losing speed. I writh and make horrendous noises from all the feelings  
rolling out within me.

He reaches up on either side of me and grabs the belt with my waist, holding me firmly against his  
mouth and growling. It sent the best kind of vibrations up my arched spine, spreading out at my  
shoulders and melting like liquid warmth into my bones. His hold gets tight enough for flesh to be  
rubbing against my ribcage but I can't feel anything besides him gathering saliva on his tongue  
before letting it drip into me.

I'm left feeling cold and alone when he pulls away for a short moment, kneeling between my legs  
and ridding himself of the final article of clothing he has on. I've never seen Edward entirely naked  
and _hard_ at the same time. My brain seems to be doing cartwheels at the sight of his size but  
my body weeps for the fact that I'm not stretched nearly enough.

He pumps himself a few times just to _make sure_ he's fully hard and I don't even try  
estimating the inches. I lie back and when two fingers enter me I sink a little further into a world of  
sexual torture. His wrist is a blurred vision as he moves the spit-covered fingers through my body. A  
third joins them and I don't get an adjustment period so I turn my head to the side and bite my  
pillow to hide a scream.

"You're so tight, petal." He cloaks my body with his again and allows my legs to fall onto his  
shoulders. "How does that work?"

_I don't know!_ I stare blankly back at him and he connects our mouths, having to close mine  
with his teeth first because I'm a little out of my senses.

His fingers stop moving and he mutters the one word my libido seems to have been waiting for.

"Come."

Unknowingly I'd been keeping my orgasm at bay and now it rips through me, three white ropes  
staining my tummy and chest. Edward is gone for a moment while he watches me come with  
hooded eyes, teeth poking out as he bites his lip.

I hardly hear him speaking through the raining electricity and blood pumping through my head. My  
orgasm has both fired me up and exhausted me. He tugs on the belt around me and I whine.

"I'll go in dry if you don't want to do it, petal." He says calmly, but there's a hidden edge to the crack  
in his voice. 

Forcing myself up with shaky arms and an unsteady mindset, I make a curious sound that indicates  
my confusion. A bottle of lube is presented to me, flavourless belonging to my drawer. I don't waste  
energy asking how he got it, and pour some into my hand before touching the hot skin of his  
member.

"That's enough." He grunts when he's deemed himself sufficiently lubed.

I fall back onto the bed, once again eager and enthralled as he shuffles up the length of my body  
again. Edward effectively keeps me folded in half against him, situating himself so the head of his  
erection rubs over me.

"No." I shake my head at the sensitivity that I'd forgotten about and push at his shoulders.

He bites my shoulder and pushes the head in, feeling the pop of its entry and the cry from between  
my lips. I sob pitifully and the effort of my legs resisting him is fruitless. He kisses my lips over and  
over in small pecks until I relax.

"Hush, petal." He seems to be holding back something too and when I look into his eyes, they're  
filled with emotions I can't decipher in the slightest.

My body hasn't recovered from one orgasm and he's pushing into me, inch by massive inch, until  
there's another one building. I have nowhere and nothing to grasp so I settle for the sheets, fisting  
them in my small hands until I'm satisfied.

"I want to hear your voice." He presses his thumb to my bottom lip and dips it inside. "I want you to  
know who's fucking you."

How could I not know? It's impossible for me to not comprehend the monster c*ck inside me. I  
accept the piece of him that's in my mouth and experimentally suckle, my eyes peering up through  
my lashes for an innocent appearance. Edward's gaze darkens into a beastly lust but he doesn't move  
from where he's simply choking my body with his length, resting against me until I'm okay.

_Finally_ my traiterous posterior has stopped jolting and rejecting the intrusion of Edward,  
letting the pressure against my insides provide pleasure. I sigh and his hand moves away from my  
lips to my chest, tweaking the nipple he'd abused at my doorway. I jolt up into his hand and his face  
gets so much closer to me. The position we're in doesn't allow for me to have both him and a great  
angle for penetration so I sacrifice the first.

"Better now?" He asks my other nipple, untouched until now.

I squirm beneath him when he tries biting it harmlessly. "You're big."

His lips curve into that signature smirk of his and suddenly I'm being airlifted then dropped again. I  
only figure out what happened after my throat doesn't feel so raw from the scream that was punched  
out of me.

"Ride me." He takes my place amongst the palace of pillows and leaves me sitting stiffly on his  
c*ck.

I whimper and glance around me, feeling uncomfortable with being so exposed and empty up here.  
My eye-line meets his again and his stare is so intense it could melt me from afar. I look away shyly  
and distract us both by squeezing my eyes closed as I roll my hips across his.   
He stops me.

I don't open my eyes and wince when he sits up straight, chest flush against mine and one hand  
roaming my back.

"You're insecure. Why?" He _hugs_ me and I throw my arms around his neck, gritting my  
teeth at the shift inside me.

"N-Never did this before." I weakly gesture to something between us.

Nothing softens about him. Definitely nothing. He just takes a quick moment to think before  
wrapping his arms around my waist, making me feel tiny in them. I lean my forehead against his  
and study the magical shade of green he carried everywhere with him.

"Move." I'd like to believe the hint of something was concern.

I lifted my hips and blew out a long breath at the drag within me. Our chests rubbed together and  
his arms slid lower, mine supporting me in my movements on his shoulders. It was a structured  
system that left each component with a job.

"Better?" He doesn't let me lower myself until I've answered. Maybe it actually was concern.  
I nod fervently and sit back down, his body invading mine until I'm filled and the right spots are  
combined in one thrust. My fingers press into his shoulders and neck, the head of my member  
colliding with the swollen gland of my prostate. He brings his mouth to my neck and rips the  
bandage off where his permanent mark lay.

"Gorgeous, petal." He murmured against it, kissing with lifting his lips until he got to my own.  
I continue my pace until I'm more at ease and move faster, bouncing shallowly on my knees and  
hitting my special spot in every round. Sounds that are loud and some muffled fall from my mouth  
and into his, our throats laden with air from one another.

Edward captures my bottom lip with his teeth and I let him have it, already too far lost to the  
throbbing inside me to focus on anything besides that. He moans against it as he sucks a little harder  
than normal and my wince is lost in the moment.

His hard muscle slams into my hips on every fall, pulling mewls and whines from me. My knees  
tire and my thighs begin to quiver but my body is penalising me with the build-up of a pending  
orgasm barreling towards me at maximum speed. I become confident enough to speed up and  
eventually my hesitation from earlier evaporates as Edward thrust upward and my behind feels  
tender with mistreatment.

"Stop." He abruptly whispers harshly, eyes flying to the closed door.

I don't stop. I can't. I'm too close and I can feel it in him too, the groans and twitches against the  
clenching of my walls. His arms tighten and he lightly slaps my thigh as incentive but I  
_can't._

"_Petal._" He tries to render my motions useless but there's a new build-up within me and it's  
more powerful than his reluctance. 

The door swings open and Niall's distracted voice enters with him. "Lou, did you get my....-" I can't  
see but I'm guessing he looked up at that moment. "Well goodbye then."

The door closes and he's gone, then the front door repeats the sequence.

When the panic in my heart returns to normal, I question why Niall didn't - in his terms - flip his  
shit at the sight of Edward in my bed. Movement against me gets me to turn back around, the  
feeling of a thumping heart slowly getting back into the cage of my chest.

"You didn't stop." Edward had kept his face hidden - coincidentally or on purpose I'm not sure -  
against my chest.

The feeling of suckling around my nipple went unnoticed in my sudden need to keep my best friend  
from seeing more of me than he should. Edward resumes his full height here and even now he's  
significantly taller than I am. I also forgot about the activity I was conducting prior to Niall's  
interruption.

"Disobedient, petal." He rolls us over and I'm plastered to the sheets beneath him, staring wide-eyed  
up at him.

The next thing I know my thighs are sacked up to Edward's waist and his hips are pivoting in a  
cruel fashion. He punches everything out of me: air, control and sanity. I scream bloody murder  
when my prostate is put on a pedestal for him to abuse and my eyes roll back into my skull. He pins  
my hands down with his and doesn't attempt to kiss me, just keeps up the bruising pace of pounding  
into my weak form.

My thoughts fly out the window and the cartwheels of satisfaction stop in their tracks, flipping over  
and landing on a sore arse. Along with my orgasm comes the definite promise of soreness and  
marks everywhere when I wake up tomorrow, but that's far from important. Edward's teeth find my  
lower lip and he accidentally or not punctures it. The blood trickles and my attempts to escape are  
futile.

The pleasure is rapidly destroying me and I have nowhere to run to. I let him leave my hands in  
favour of my thighs and at the brink of my end, when I can feel every ridge and bit of his shifting  
skin inside me is enough to throw into a mindblowing orgasm, he stops to flip me over.

"What-"

"Hush, petal!" He presses my face into the pillow and I sputter against the fabric clogging my  
mouth.

I have nothing to do except clutch the sheets until my nails hurt and skin threatens to start bleeding.  
My body is propped up and bum left hoisted in the air with the sting of a thorough fucking and ache  
of a gaping hole. I've never had sex as phenomenal as this time. Edward is rough and not afraid of  
breaking me, pushing limits to actually achieve that.

The broken skin of my lip leaves the metallic taste of blood in my mouth as I feel his fit himself  
into me again from behind. He's deeper this way, nestled against my prostate without needing to  
find it. He empties my body of him and slams back in with a loud groan of evident pleasure, the  
ripple of his muscles and unforgiving grip on my hips spurring him on. 

He continues the pattern of withdrawing and burying himself in the closure my body offers until I'm  
a sweaty mess of hormones. I bite the pillow and stain it red with blood, damp with saliva and the  
shouts of his name and curses. Edward pulls me up by my hair and I'm allowed to breathe for the  
moment that he doesn't bend my neck at a backwards angle so I'm curved completely.

"You're so disobedient sometimes, petal." He says through gritted teeth and a hand gripping the belt  
around me.

I moan loudly and with a slackened jaw. "I-I....-"

"Yes?" He holds himself in me, against me, all around me. I shudder violently as I scramble for a  
response.

"Sorry!" I manage to push it out of me with an approving nod from my inner conscience.

"Good boy." He releases my hair and his hand settles on my right shoulder, using the control to jerk  
my body in time with his. "Will you want this from anyone else, petal?"

I shake my head just to give him the answer he wants. The word floating in my head is  
_come_ and it's all I want. I belt out in a loud cry when Edward spanks me instead of  
accepting the answer.

"You sure, petal?" He presses his thumbs into the base of my spine. At first it feels like relief and  
when the pressure doesn't let up it feels like murder.

I shake my head again because all the words of my vocabulary are lost.

"Say it." He pulls out and runs his hand down my back to the dip between my cheeks, crooking his  
index and middle fingers insider me and gripping the wet walls firecely. "Say his name."

I stammered and caught the air in my lungs on the way out, coughing as Edward pile-drove into my  
limp form again. There was no time to think about why Edward wanted me to do this. In our time  
together and as rooted in intimacy as we are, he's reminding me of his brother.

"H-Harry!"

I feel every part of myself roll over to the raw and delicately sensitive side but Edward is still rock  
hard and needy inside me. He fucks as hard as he seems and doesn't stop until he's satisfied by  
varying standards.

My skin is red and flushed, heat throttling my senses and keeping my nerves heightened to feel him  
and nowhere else. I feel the slap against my behind when he comes forward and the aftermath of  
departure.

The need to come has overtaken me and I'm willing to be oh so disobedient to get my release.  
Fortunately for me, Edward is close himself and instead of slowing down he thrusts sloppily but  
desperately when it becomes too much. I'm seeing black spots in my vision after such a long wait  
and suppression of my end.

"Let go, petal." He tells me with his lips on my shoulderblade. "Let go for me."

I release a blood-curdling scream when I come onto the sheets below, ridding my body of the  
burden of unreleased come. The muscles in my back take on a nervous shiver and my fingers and   
toes curl to withstand the burst of all the colours in my head. It felt truly like every blood vessel of  
mine burst at small gaps to contribute to the blow-out proportions of my orgasm, that tore through  
me.

My body turns to complete jelly afterwards and I realise that I've missed Edward's release in the  
midst of mine bearing down on him. His come flooded my system and my tunnel clenched around  
him to milk the last of his offering to me. He emptied himself into me and his length took longer  
than any time I know to soften.

Before I could sag into the mess I'd created, Edward rolled us over to the clean side of my bed  
without extracting himself from me. Chest heaving and heart racing, I paid attention to the arms  
around me as the individual hairs on it came back into focus.

He hadn't pulled out and I couldn't shake the nauseating sensitivity boiling within my body. Tears  
were springing to sight on their own accord but Edward brushed my hair aside and reassured me.

"Stay still." He kissed behind my ear. "You've got to stay still, petal."

I twitched with tiny spasms for a bit while my person adjusted to this new stimulus-free  
environment. My one hand rest atop Edward's and was soon caught up in the network of his fingers.

"Top ten hardest fucks of your life?" He spoke after a dead silence that lasted ten whole minutes  
during which neither of us felt awkward.

"Number one."


	11. chapter Eleven

***NARRATOR'S POV***

"Ah!" Louis cried, tears making the creased corners of his eyes burn and the muscle protests from  
his back amplifying the experience of Edward bending him over a table.

His body jerks to the slap of Edward's hips on his ass, lighting the already flushed skin on fire and  
leaving a sea of pleasure to crash over him. It forms craters in his mind and physical appetite that  
only Edward can fulfil on encounters like this.

"Don't come." Edward growled, his brutality not having eased up during the past two orgasms of  
Louis' - the count starting from the night before.

Louis' eyes flew wide open at that betrayal. He was promised release! "Pl-Please! I-I need t'come."

Edward seemed to be taking pity on Louis' shaking form, keeping his body plastered to the boy's as  
he rotated his hips. The act caused Louis' body to violently clench around him, resisting the stretch  
but wanting it to open him up all the more. Louis' noises altered from screams to sobs that were cut  
off by Edward biting over the healed mark he left behind.

"Don't." He warned Louis, spreading his cheeks in one pry that had Louis' hole stretching painfully  
with him still pushed in. "Be patient, petal."

Louis closes his eyes and scratches along the surface of the hard wood table, causing scrapes that a  
carpenter will have to repair. He reaches back to grab Edward by his hair, harmless splinters of  
wood beneath his nails and the skin around the cartilage starting to bleed.

It was becoming too much and Louis wanted to hoard all the pleasure before it spilt and he lost it  
all. He panted and tried restraining his body from rolling back with Edward, but the intention was  
lost and he came hard enough to see black stars.

Edward expected to hold out and when Louis failed to, he also had his climax stolen from him from  
the clamping down of Louis' tunnel of wet muscle around him. He came inside Louis' desperate  
little body for the second time, filling him up once again.

"Oh my sweet petal." He extricated himself gingerly and located the plug too large to cause  
anything less than soreness on the bed. Without an ounce of sympathy for the boy, Edward pushed  
the plug in and pulled Louis away from the table. "You know you disobeyed me and what that calls  
for, don't you?"

Louis was exhausted, his eyes already having slipped shut and his body forgetting the probability of  
punishment to rest against Edward. He could just about see his blanket of security covering him in  
slumber.

"Tired?" Edward combed Louis' hair with his fingers.

Louis made a sound of agreement. He's sure it didn't sound awfully strangled by his exhaustion. 

"You're going to stand here-" Edward withdrew from being Louis' upright support structure. "-until  
you simply can't."

The worry struck Louis like a brick. He was being punished by being made to stand until he fell, too  
tired with weak metabolism to go on.

"Or you can join me." Edward sat at the foot of Louis' bed, as naked as he was when they picked up  
their amorous activities this morning. "Last five minutes, petal, and I won't call my brother."

Louis feel motivated after that. At least he would be if he had the energy to be motivated. He glares  
powerlessly at Edward and sways on his feet, the distance between them minimal enough to tempt  
him. He could fall onto Edward and fall asleep for an hour nap easily before he needs to get up for  
work. Even Edward looked comfy sitting unaffected on the bed with his body invitingly open.

Pouting, Louis closed his eyes and battled with tiredness to stay standing. He leaned too much to  
the left and almost fell over, but managed to right himself before damage was done.

"Petal?" Edward was calling him but Louis was too far gone to do much other than raise an  
eyebrow. "Tired, baby?"

_Baby!_ Louis opens his eyes and his equilibrium unsteadies as he stares at Edward. Will he  
be allowed to crawl onto Edward's lap and sleep if he forfeits this trivial game?

He tries to say yes but an awful "Ah-hmph" sound escapes instead. Edward finds it deeply  
endearing and even smiles at Louis before expanding his arms. Louis, mindless of the warning of  
punishment, scrambles onto Edward's lap and tucks himself below his chin. The comfort is   
allencompassing and he finds himself falling prey to his mild fatigue instantly.

* * * * *

Awakening was for Louis, the toughest part of his nap overall. He woke up to Niall shouting and  
someone against his back, breathing in shallow gulps down his neck. Hands trailed up and down his  
side, over his hip and venturing back up to his shoulder. The respect for his exhausted lower half  
was appreciated. Louis tried to extend the time he spent with his face smothered by his pillow and  
Edward brushing over the parts of him that were sensitive enough to calm him.

Louis counted to thirty-four in his head, nice and slow, before turning around to face the man who -  
Hours? Minutes? - ago had explored the parts of his soul and beyond like nobody else dared.

_Harry._

Louis backed away from the dark shoulder-long hair and quickly shallowing dimples. He felt the  
end of the bed and stopped himself from falling, clutching the sheets to guard his modesty. Harry  
doesn't reach for him or grab him, openly offended by Louis' desperate attempts to escape him.

_What did he do?_

"Petal?" Harry felt his eyebrows meet in the middle with his frown of confusion and misconception.  
Ensuring that any extra skin wasn't showing, Louis heard Niall stop shouting the door slamming  
shut. "Where's Edward?"

Harry's insecurity vanished like a stain on a table cloth at Buckingham Palace. He inches forward  
and Louis realises that he's fully clothed minus his shoes. Louis was dragged forward by insanely  
strong arms maintaining a Hellish tight grip on his arms. His verbal protests are shut out by Harry's  
hand on his mouth, the accompanying arm winding around the extremely low curve of his back.

"That was him going at it with your flatmate." Harry answers, dropping his hand to the heaving  
chest below. "He called me."

Louis suddenly remembers why Harry would be here in the first place, the only possible reason for  
his attendance. Surely it's halfway through the day already? Or at least he's terribly late for work.  
They can _not_ do anything at the moment.

"Oh." Louis seems to accept the mentioned prospect of punishment. He let's his hands sink to his  
lap and stays especially still to keep from rubbing against the tough jean material of Harry's pants.

"I'll be easy on you, petal." Harry brushes Louis' cheek with the lengths of his fingers until his palm  
touches the boy's skin and stops. "You know I will."

Louis narrows his eyes at the man and is drawn closer until the heated skin of his thighs are pressed  
against Harry's belt loop. He jumps at the prod of a plug still inserted, jabbing his sore insides and  
making him bite his lip.

"Do you fancy my brother above me?" Harry doesn't go near the assaulting object and his fingers  
skate across the plane of Louis' back. "Because I try, petal. I really do, just for you."

"You don't try, Harry." Louis puts his hands on Harry's shoulders to brace his balance and lift some  
of the pressure on his body. "I wish you would though."

Harry brightens and let's Louis use him as a seated support bar. "You do?"

"I do." Louis sets himself up on his knees and finds a position where he doesn't have so much force  
pushing up into him.

"You agreed to give me a chance." Harry points out, his palms digging into the mattress as he  
leaned back.

"I have." Louis regards him cautiously. "That's your only chance, Harry."

"Okay." The man returns to his previous position and scratches the itch burning under his skin to  
touch Louis. "I intend to....woo you properly."

"Woo me?" Louis tests the possibility of removing himself from Harry's lap when it got too  
uncomfortable but the man just preventatively formed a barrier of muscle around his hips.

"Woo." Harry clicked his tongue. "Would you prefer another method?"

From hesitant to confident to suave. Louis doesn't think his head spins enough with this man. 

"Would _you_?" Louis is aware that he's participating in this communication of banter for no  
reason other than to provoke another change in Harry's demeanour.

Harry switched from his chilled exposure to an eager child on Christmas morning. "I'd do whatever  
you need me to do."

Not entirely shocked by this response, Louis manages a small smile that's weak and strained but  
genuine. Harry is completely unlike his brother in the way that he changes with the tide, whilst  
Edward remained steadfast and handled everything in one frame of mine. Harry went from seething  
to collected when Louis spoke so sweetly to him.

Yes he was here to 'deliver punishment' but neither was entirely aware of what type of punishment  
would be dished out. Harry vowed before he got in a car to drive here that he'd risk Edward's wrath  
before he hurt his petal again. After hours spent contemplating and something clicking when he  
walked in on Louis with Edward, he's decided to be civil about this.

Louis deserved to be treated like a King. A gentle King.

"I-" Edward walks in with as an ordinary an expression as any, indicating against the truth that he  
hadn't fought with Louis' best friend minutes ago.

He carried a plate and bottle of water, both objects recognisable as from Louis' cabinets and fridge  
respectively. The most stunning thing to be noted about Edward at the time is that he's stark naked  
and going about his current business, the impressive equipment he possessed between pelvis and  
thigh on open display.

"Where's Niall?" Louis changes his question, concern evident for his companion.

"He left for work, petal." Edward replied simply and with a shrug. When Louis didn't ease up on his  
meaningful stare, Edward chuckled. "Do you suspect something of me, darlin'?"

Louis accepted the offering of sustenance and had to slide off Harry's lap to make space. The 'meal'  
was grilled cheese but Louis swears he can smell hypnotising garlic made in just the right way.  
He shook his head. "No."

Before he's given the God sent moment to bite into his food and regain some of the energy he lost in  
barrels since last night, Edward is grasping the back of his neck and kissing him. It's an act that  
would have sent Louis' head to hit the wall if it weren't for Edward's hand. The kiss is deep but  
short-lived and leaves Louis breathless when the feel of sharpened teeth slides across his lips.  
"Eat." Edward gestured towards to the untouched plate.

Louis is tempted to make his tongue stick out at him, but he didn't live nineteen odd years to  
become a baby again. "Yes, Sir."

He doesn't see how Edward stares at his side profile in unhindered interest, then over his shoulder at  
Harry who ducks his head in time with his smirk.

"Maybe we can make that a permanent fixture in what we share, petal." Edward says, more to  
himself than to the ears of others. 

Louis tears off a corner piece of the toasted sandwich and bites back his own moan at having food  
in his system after so long. It wasn't a whole day but it was definitely long enough.

"Did you make this?" Louis asks after the silence and scorch of four eyes on him got deeply  
unnerving.

"Is it so obvious?" Edward leans a bit closer when he supports most of his weight with his right  
arm. Harry's shuffling ends when he crosses his legs.

"I did ask." Louis replies, amused.

"Fair point. I did make it, petal."

Louis nods, saying nothing.

It's Harry who speaks next, taking up the position of ice-breaker. "He wants to know if you think it's  
as awful as all his other cooking."

There's a giggle holding back in the volume of Louis' pharynx. Edward looks scandalised by the  
abrupt remark and scowls at his brother. "I do not."

Louis got a glimpse of something untainted and _innocent_ when he watches them  
communicate now, himself involved in the purity. He laughs when Harry insisted on the topic and  
Edward got passively defensive.

"My brother enjoys bringing my faults to light." Edward explains, not at all cold in his tone and  
manner. He looks....._fond_.

"He almost sent Gerard to the hospital." Harry carelessly continues, chin on Louis' shoulder. "Seven  
years ago when he tried to make spaghetti."

"Just spaghetti?" Louis has finished his food and picked up the water bottle.

"Yes." Edward said at the same time that Harry said: "No."

"He tried bolognaise, I believe." Harry made Louis turn his head at an awkward angle to look at  
him.

"Since then I've stuck to grilled cheese." Edward finishes, hoping this topic of discussion is hereby  
closed.

"That's not so bad." Louis supplies diplomatically. "One could survive on grilled cheese."

Where did all the childishness come from? The kindness with respectfully considerate body  
language? Edward's willingness to not shut everything down the minute it started? Harry's  
bipolarity is not such a mystery to Louis anymore.

"What time is it?" Louis asks no one in particular.

"You're not going to that place today, petal." Edward shakes his head, hateful towards the  
Madhouse. 

"I have to work, Edward."

"They'll understand." Harry responds first, saying what his brother would. "You have us now, love."

_Baby, now love._ Louis tries not to be flattered by it all. He could write a book on how to  
survive if a lunatic becomes obsessed with you, followed by the conclusion that they were never  
mad to begin with. Being favoured by crazy people was not Louis' goal in this life or the next, but  
he knows it isn't going away soon.

"Nope." Louis evades Edward's lips when they go for his neck. "I will die if we go again."

"It's a good way to go." Edward has Louis half on his lap during the boy's escape. The slide and slap  
of their bare skin creating a perfect soundtrack. "I might accompany you."

"No." Louis wiggles free - Edward let's him - but doesn't move beyond that. "If I'm bunking work  
then we're doing something I want to do."

Harry gives him a look to question his mental stability. _Really?_

"Outside the bedroom, Harry." Louis clarifies, bold as he is about the matter.

"Alright, petal. What do you suggest?" Edward moved to accommodate Louis' legs atop his own.  
For the first time since he met the twins, Louis grinned.

* * * * *

"Absolutely not." Edward shakes his head as soon as they arrive in the parking lot of Louis' chosen  
activity.

Harry was on board for it and obviously so was Louis. "It could be fun, brother."

"I don't need or hope to seek 'fun' in the foreseeable future." Edward started the Rover again to drive  
away.

"You don't have to go on the ice if you don't want to." Louis tried to help stop Edward from leaving  
the property.

He was in the back-seat and Harry in the front. Nobody wore seatbelts and Harry tended to twist  
around in his seat restlessly during silences. Louis hadn't been to the ice rink in over nine months  
because of work and studying. Now might be a splendid time as any to let loose again.

"It's dangerous." Edward waited at the exit for the line of upcoming cars to drive by or yield.

"There's a railing." Louis said lamely. _Since when did Ted Bundy Styles care about dangerous  
hobbies?_

"This establishment is over sixty years old, that railing is older and not going to support anyone."

Harry looks heartbroken. Louis is lost for a cause and pulls out the big guns for his sake, also his  
own. "If we're not going to the ice rink then I'm not going on a date with you."

The car jerks with Edward's intention to accelerate but suddenly brakes. Shit. "What makes you  
think that's a good bargain? I could drag you with us tonight."

"But you won't." Louis is eighty percent confident about this. "Don't be unfair, Edward."

They wait for six minutes while Edward's mind reels with decision-making precision. The answer  
comes in the form of Edward reversing and pulling into the closest parking spot. Harry's hope has  
returned and Louis has a sunken feeling in his gut. This isn't over and he knows it.

Middleston is on the warmer side today and Louis need not wear more than a long-sleeved shirt  
with random pants. His shoes were an older pair by the way he can feel the pebbles and pavement  
beneath them.

Edward doesn't have the decency of normalcy to let Harry get a few paces ahead before crowding  
Louis into a tiny kill zone against the Range Rover's passenger side. Louis gasped with a dead chill  
settling in the pit of his stomach.

"You just worsened your punishment, Louis. It will be mine to deliver. I'm fond of you but I don't  
take threats like yours lightly." Edward spun around on the heel of his boot and stormed off without  
a care for the way he shoves Harry's shoulder.

The most frightening thing Edward said in all that was _'Louis'_.

When Louis sagged against the door, he discovered that he was trembling. It was deep in pitted fear  
and stress, afraid of what's to come his way because of an ice rink. Harry is there before he can  
break down completely, capturing Louis' attention and blocking out the sun's rays.

Harry thumbs at the hollow spot below Louis' cheekbone, searching his eyes for something to do.  
He worries too, if the darker tint to his powerful green is anything to go by. Slowly, Harry bends  
and kisses Louis' forehead. Louis can't do much besides hold onto the man's wrist and close his  
eyes.

Louis got the wrong person's promise to never hurt him, and he knows that now.

"Come." Harry wraps an arm around Louis' waist and peels him away from the car door.

The vibe and hope for even a moment's freedom from everything that Louis' world has become, has  
been crushed. "I-I don't want to go anymore."

"I know, neither do I." Harry sighs, glancing over his shoulder at something then back down to  
Louis. "It will be worse now if you do not go. Be brave about it, petal."

Louis takes some time to psych himself up again and not feel like a perishable good on a grocer's  
shelf. Harry holds him with distance between them until they're close enough to the main entrance,  
past dozens of cars and mini vans filled families. Finding himself against Harry's side and under his  
arm, Louis sighs.

Edward is there, acting not impatient with his hands buried from the wrist downwards in his jacket  
pockets. He merely glances their way and Harry's fingers flex on Louis' waist. 

"I paid already." The older brother says nothing about witnessing the act. "Let's go."

This could turn out to be the _worst_ outing of Louis' life.

Hiring shoes is simple but Louis finds himself messing it up anyway with the unkind feeling of a set  
of eyes staring into his back from the benches. Edward didn't intend to skate so he sat on the cold  
wooden benches for the public, effectively removing the only other occupant by his mere presence.  
Louis made an active effort to ignore him.

He had to make a deposit, get the shoes and after usage return them for a refund. Despite being told  
the deposit amount twice Louis managed to pull out the wrong amount and Harry took over from  
him out of necessity. Louis exhaled tiredly and twisted his upper body as he exercised the soreness  
out of him.

"Okay?" Harry _held Louis' hand_ and guided him towards the rink itself as if on his own, the  
boy might be lost.

"Yeah." Louis nodded, hoping to have been convincing.

Harry examines the shoes - both glossy red and looking suspiciously brand new - with an odd  
expression.

Louis takes the bait. "What's wrong with them?"

"Right here-" Harry shows him the left shoe from one of the pairs, pointing at a tiny label above the  
blade. "-is our initials."

"These are _your_ shoes?" Louis doubts he'll fit into the second pair if these are custom Styles  
shoes.

"Yeah." Harry sounds softer, more thoughtful. "I forgot they were here."

"I don't think I'll fit properly into them."

"You will." Harry says determinedly.

Indeed by the act of elaborate magic, Harry gets Louis to be comfortable in the shoes that aren't his  
size. Louis hasn't skated in a long time but Harry's time away from the rink was much longer, so  
they're both at a disadvantage.

People are indiscreetly walking past them numerous times to get a glimpse of who the unlucky boy  
in the company of Madman Styles is. They don't point and laugh because this isn't high school. This  
is the cold, cruel world and such things can get you killed. Besides, the mad man's brother is not too  
far away watching the people he arrived here with like a hawk.

"Are you okay?" Louis helps Harry right himself after a tumble right at the entrance of the rink,  
giggling when Harry resembles a giraffe.

"I'm fine, petal." Harry says in reassurance. 

They have an average of three falls between them both in the first twenty minutes. Louis fell once  
and Harry twice, the most recent resulting in both their landings.

"Maybe we should just stay here." Harry blows out his cheeks and resembles an upset child, sitting  
on the ice with his knees spread.

Louis was already standing and picked at the ice with his skates as he leaned against the wall. "We  
never went to the middle."

"Can you imagine the possibilities of injury if we got there?"

"It'll be worth it, won't it?"

Outside the ice bank where small groups of people were trying to skate around or away from where  
they were, Edward sat watching every move of Louis' with his brother. He could play it again in his  
head if he so wished. His petal proved to be impressively graceful while his long-limbed twin fell  
all over him - purposefully or otherwise.

He caught Louis' eye and the boy looked away within a heartbeat, making Edward frown. It was  
called for and Edward knew that, but it still made something distasteful flare in his instincts. Louis  
deserved to hear what Edward had told him, but then why was he acting the way that he was?

Louis crouches beside Harry and the man is all too close to him. "When was the last time you did  
something like this?"

Maybe it was therapeutic to Harry, but it was definitely therapeutic to Louis. The feeling that soared  
through you when you moved freely, feeling professional as an amateur. Louis loved the freedom of  
it even if it was in an enclosed arena.

"When I forgot about these shoes." Harry got up to his feet and took Louis' hand, his fingers  
slipping into the gaps between Louis'.

Their ambitious drive was driven underground when Harry tripped over nothing and took Louis  
with him. Again. Louis fell when the surprise of a hand grabbing his arm caught him off guard. He  
didn't have time to shout before he found himself toppled over on Harry's chest, firm hands  
safeguarding his weight from slipping off.

Harry groaned and Louis laughed, truthfully braced with amusement. "Wanna go again?"

"Absolutely not." Harry answered immediately, his pitch in voice rising with his urgency.

"It's been a while anyway." Louis' teeth sunk into his thin bottom lip. "Food?"

"Sounds delightful, petal." Harry sat up and Louis moved to be across him. "Do you think we can  
escape my brother?"

Louis' surprise at the proposition caused his eyes to widen. "He's watching everything we do."

"The bathrooms are at the other end of the rink. They have windows."

"Big enough windows?" 

Harry nods, expression impassive so they don't look suspicious. "Big enough."

Louis was reluctant to go along with this almighty plan. What if Harry did something? To him or to  
someone else? What if he had one of his mood swings and made an abrupt turn for the worst?  
"What about our shoes?" Louis looks at their feet and isn't shocked to feel a kind of thrill that hasn't  
existed within him since his senior year.

"There's a tea garden a short walk from here." Harry looks the other way, past Louis so his head is  
completely turned away from Edward. "Say you need to use the restroom, my brother lip reads  
excellently."

"I...need to use the loo." Louis says, standing up without hesitation. He's always been good at drama  
but for the first time his heart is racing faster than a Bugatti engine.

Harry masks his amusement at the hilarity of Louis' word switch by smirking behind his wrist as he  
pretends to rub the tip of his nose. He stands up and avoids where Edward sat completely, watching  
them in open concern about what they're doing.

People easily move out of their way when Harry starts weaving the path through the crowds. The  
bathrooms are part of a small hut-like structure at the bottom end of the oval ice rink, painted a  
sickle blue with a yellow tin roof. This place just managed to escape being one of Middleston's  
landmarks.

There aren't many people inside, a mother changing her baby's diaper and a little boy standing  
beside her. Louis takes off his skates and walks towards the counter of basins in his socks, trailed  
closely by Harry. The latter removes his shoes and once the mother disappears with her troop of  
toddlers through the door, grabs Louis' hand.

"It looks small, Harry." Louis chews the skin of his lip in doubt. A bit of flesh is bitten off and stings  
close to his sensitive gums. The blood taste reaches his tongue and he frowns.

"You'll fit, Lou." Harry assures him, confident Gonzalez. "May I?"

Louis turns around with his lip sucked into his mouth. "May you what?"

"This."

Harry drops the untied lace of his skates and his palms settling slowly, carefully on Louis' hips. The  
temperature kicks into overdrive with the thud of Louis' strongest muscle against his ribcage. He  
stares up at Harry, caught and ensnared in the bewildering green of the eyes looking back at him.  
His lip falls free as he smothers the ache of desire. He's only human, he reasons.

"Harry-!" Louis exclaims suddenly when he's hoisted into the air and sat on the ledge of the dodgy  
window.

"Go." Harry hisses, pushing Louis backwards by his ankles.

One leg swings over before Louis is straddling the window sill, then the other and he's slipping over  
the edge. He seems to have landed on cold and sharp pebbles that poke his feet through the material  
of his black socks. There's a parking lot - the very same that they arrived through - to his right and a  
path leading to the freeway on his left. 

Harry hops down next and Louis feels the whoosh of air upon his impact with the ground. He turns  
to face him, buried deep in worry over this mission of theirs. The air is salty and smelling of the  
typical Middleston soil with corn scent.

"This way." Harry steps forward and holds his hand back for Louis take.

Louis accepts the offer and combs his fringe back from his eyes, jogging behind Harry as they make  
their away from the building to the pathway that can't fit two people side-by-side. The grass reaches  
Louis' thighs and makes his skin itch beneath his pants fabric just from paranoia.

"None of it is poisonous." Harry glances back with a knowing smile and tugs them along further.  
"Oh." Louis purses his lips and keeps it up for a short while longer.

They walk close to a stream but not near enough to dampen their pants and socks. Harry takes him  
to the roadside and makes a sharp left turn, hand still locked with Louis'. The tea garden is a lovely  
little establishment hidden by glamorous greenery. A sign by the freeway indicates that it's there but  
that's it.

Harry releases Louis' hand and steps through the door, a small bell jingling above his head.  
"Mrs. Khan." He greets a nice looking old lady at the entrance, but she doesn't respond with half as  
much enthusiasm.

"Harry?" She doesn't seem pleased.

Louis' accomplice doesn't waste time conversing with her and her foul coldness towards him. "We  
can't stay. Can we see the menu please?"

This woman got a please and kind greeting from Harry but she's making several attempts to dodge  
him completely. How disrespectful. Louis can't entirely blame her for the pitying look she sends his  
way. Mrs. Khan hands Harry a menu with both hands to keep the laminated fold-up from displaying  
her tremors.

"Petal?" Harry retook Louis' hand and flexed his fingers to get the boy's attention.

Mrs. Khan moved away from them and seemed to have generated a strong disliking for Louis as  
well now.

"We should stay." Louis heard himself say but not know where it came from within his bravery.  
"She doesn't want us here." Harry's smile fell like any hope of survival from a storm at sea. "I don't  
want to be antagonised if we do."

There are approximately three other people here, one minding his own business with a bluetooth in  
his ear and the other two mindlessly glancing at Louis and Harry every two seconds.

"I've always liked the home-made cookies." Harry is reading off the menu card. "Cookies and tea?"

"Coffee for me." Louis says. 

Mrs. Khan is distraught to hear that they'll be staying rather than taking to-go containers on their  
way out. She shows them to a table outside where nobody else was around and seated them under  
an umbrella near a wooden tool shed. Harry asks her for their orders and ignores her judgmental  
look down at their shoeless condition.

"Isn't it peaceful here?" Harry sits back in his chair, pushing his hair out of eyes and all smiles for  
some reason.

"It is." Louis agrees, taking in the whistle of water hitting rock and plants giving off an earthy  
aroma.

"My brother will not be happy to receive us when we return." Harry sighs, abhorring the thought of  
returning to his fuming sibling.

"I wouldn't be either." Louis crosses one leg over the other and shifts to the left when Mrs. Khan  
arrives with their tea and biscuits. "We abandoned him."

"He used to love skating, you know." Harry waits for the old woman to be gone far enough before  
spitting out.

Louis breaks a reasonably large cookie in half and Harry takes the other portion when he consumes  
one. "He looks like he despises it."

Harry's expression sobers and his shoulders cave in on themselves. "I didn't say anything."

Nodding, Louis bites into the second cookie with a sip of some of the most bitter coffee he's ever  
tasted. He almost wants to spit it out, but it somehow manages to flow down his throat.

"We shouldn't take long." Harry raises his cup to his lips but doesn't let it touch his lips.

"What?"

Harry takes a slow sip. "Would you have seen us having biscuits and tea at any point in time?"

Louis frames his small white porcelain tea cup with both is hands. "Never."  
The answer seems to please Harry and the man smirks coyly behind his cup, pinkie raised like a  
proper gentleman.

* * * * *

Harry once again lifts Louis up to grab the window ledge ahead of himself, which he deems a  
decent act of politeness. Louis lands with a soft thump and stops short at the person waiting for him.  
Edward leaned against the restroom door, keeping it shut with his arms crossed over his chest and  
face unreadable.

"I've known my brother all his life, petal. I know his ideas before they come to him." Edward says  
terribly slow and calm, head cocked to the side when Harry jumps down. 

"Edward." Harry takes up a spot in front of Louis, shielding him anyway whether he wanted to save  
himself or actually protect Louis.

"Your shoes." Edward jerks his chin in the direction of their footwear placed at a spot close to him.

"Get it and get in the car."

* * * * *

***LOUIS' POV***

I was dropped off at my apartment without a word being uttered the whole ride here back from the  
rink. None of them escorted me up to my door like they had before, and Harry looked sullen when I  
jumped off. There was nothing I could do but pace around my home with regret and a terrible selfhatred welling inside me.  
Edward was a walking hurricane but this was the calm over the cities before anything struck. He  
was tight-lipped about my punishment and I'm not sure if we have a date later tonight. Maybe he  
simply gave up on me after my behaviour?

Niall arrived home from an early shift to shout my ear off about why he had to wake up and find  
_Edward freaking Styles_ naked and cooking in our kitchen. He was glaringly mad and yelled  
at me for every little thing I'd done since our first year on campus.

"Why was he here?" Niall asked plainly, unblinking in his stare directed at me.

"I....-" I wish I had an answer that would make my best friend forgive me. "I slept with him."

Niall appears to have lost his mind when his eyes turn red where it's supposed to be white. He  
throws his hands up and groans explicitly. "You can be such an _idiot_, Louis! Of all the men  
who are eligible in this tiny, forsaken town you pick the one who can kill us in our sleep."

I refrain from mentioning anything about their promises made to me, because after my stunt at the  
ice rink I doubt I'm in anyone's favour. "He won't."

"Fuck, Louis!" He pulls on his hair viciously. "Do you _know_ what you could have done?"

"Of course I do." I offer him the least impressed look I have. "I am not a child."

"Well thank God for that because five years ago they were out chewing children's hearts."

"Niall!"

"Am I wrong?" Niall turned away from the window. "Maybe they didn't eat hearts but what they did  
here was just as bad!"

"They've been to rehab and they-"

"You will not defend serial killers in this house!"

"Oh shut up, Niall. You aren't my parent!"

"No but if I didn't at least take an interest in what you did you'd probably be at the bottom of Lost  
Lake!"

"You don't _understand_, Niall!"

"Then explain it to me." Niall lowered his tone again. Probably everyone I've befriended is able to  
do that besides myself.

"I can't." I murmur to my lap where my clenched fist sat. It was for Niall's own safety that I was  
doing this. I had to be doing the right thing.

"Fine." He changed directions and barged out of the room with a force behind his movements.

I waited ten minutes, sitting in silence with sobs stretching the rims of my eyes with tears. My knees  
drew themselves up to be held by my arms as I thought of a way to end all of this.

What could I do? If I tell Niall he'll be in danger just when I managed to earn a tiny amount of trust.  
I can move; move far away and never look back. Will Niall accompany me? If he stays then he's  
still in danger. If I stay we go back to square one!

Niall reappeared from his room with a hand against his shoulder like he was supporting a dislocated  
joint. I soon notice by looking lower that he's got an overnight bag packed and ready.

"Niall." My voice shakes like it doesn't belong to me.

My only redemption from the pit of self loathing that I've thrown myself into is the sight of Niall's  
reddened eyes and wet cheeks. He cried too and that made me feel more secure.

"Niall, please-" I try to get up and follow him but my innards are rooted to the couch.

"Not now, Lou." Him using a nickname for me is a bright bulb of hope. "I'm going to Liam's. He  
called today for you and if you check your phone you'll see that he wasn't the only one."

"Ni!" I call after him with a clogged throat. "Please! You're my best friend."

"Best friends tell each other everything, Lou." He gathers up his keys from the bowl at the door. "I  
will come back soon."

"Today?"

"No." He makes his way over to me, bag in hand and armed with his keys. He kisses my forehead  
and ruffles my hair as a symbol of our earliest years of friendship.

He's gone immediately after and I feel myself, let myself and push myself to drown in my own  
sorrow


	12. Twelve

***NARRATOR'S POV***

Louis had a best friend and great opportunities handed to him when he moved to this town a year  
ago. Now he's partially lost the first and doesn't think he deserves the last. Does he? Why should  
he? He _let_ himself be ambushed by the infamous Styles twin brothers. Had he? All he really  
did was get an internship at the Madhouse.

Maybe he can rectify all of this with a down to Earth honest conversation with Edward and Harry.  
They have to understand. Edward at least.

The knock on his door, three rapid taps on the hard wood, gives Louis the hope that maybe Niall  
returned. He jumps up, unaware of the time that's already so late, to go open it while wiping his  
tear-stained cheeks.

"Niall-" He chops his glee in quarters when he instead sees his mother, rather than his friend.

She looks shaken, absolutely distraught with bags under her dull blue eyes. Louis frowns and shifts  
aside, sniffing to prevent a sneeze. His mother was holding her purse against her chest like she's  
afraid imaginary hands will snatch it away from her. Her clothes are disarrayed and torn at the  
knees, dirty and her lips puffy.

"Mother?" He looks her over head to toe, utterly lost for an appropriate response. "What  
happened?"

"Get inside!" She hissed and pushed her way in, slamming the door shut for him but not before  
Louis heard an elevator arrive on his floor.

"What's happening?!" He repeated when she grabbed his arm, pretending to not want to shove her  
off, and dragged him towards the kitchen.

His heart is pounding with the unwarranted stimulation, but nowhere near as badly as hers.

"Someone's here for me." She answered his enquiry at last, husky soft and eyes darting to every  
harmless object present with them.

"What? Who?" Louis implores, studying the change in her expression from scared to hesitant.

"My old.....boss."

"Your bloody _pimp!_" Louis knows his mother's one and only 'boss' is a ruthless Russian  
with no regard for individual self preservation. "You brought him to my apartment-"

Louis leaves her alone in the lightless kitchen to grab his phone and dial the police. This needs to be  
taken care off quickly and smoothly with the proper authorities because Louis does not imagine  
he'll survive more violence in his life.

His mother stops him. "No!"

"Don't touch me." He bites back, furthered to rudeness by the dark cloud of today.

Her hand recoils but she still tries to prevent bringing the police in. "He's dangerous, Lou. So  
dangerous. He'll-"

"And yet you still got involved with him." Louis spits with a narrowed glare, letting her know it's all  
for her stupid self.

Someone knocks on the front door. It's hardly human strength that the banging ensues with, but  
rather some great monster was trying to break the structure down.

"We're calling the police." Louis states with finality.

* * * * *

Edward flips over the coffee table with a kick. It completes a half-spin and crashes loudly as the  
shatterproof glass cracks. The metal framework hardly holds in the shards and along with the pieces  
from a picture frame that he smashed earlier, sprays everywhere.

He's not crazy, but spending twenty-six years with the only person he cares for who is in fact  
mentally unstable gave him more than a few insuppressible anger issues.

Harry is waiting for the rage storm to pass. He sits on their lounge single sofa closest to the exit and  
stares at the fit his brother is having.

"You _know_ how much this damned town hates us and you took him to the place that even  
more reason to?!" Edward exposed his bruised and cut knuckles.

"He was safe." Harry tells him honestly. "With me, he was safe."

"Bastard, that's not what I'm talking about. You left me at the rink, Harry!"

"It's been five years and I thought you'd be over what happened by now."

"Are you?!"

Harry had no answer. He bowed his head and sunk in his cheek. "Sorry, brother."

"Yeah." Edward sighed and dragged his stiff crooked fingers through his damp hair.

"Are you done now?" Harry uncrosses his legs and let's his wrist hang limply on the armrest. "We're  
late to pick up Lou."

Edward still looks like a demon from Hell. Hair sprouting from his neat style at uneven angles then  
his teeth bared unknowingly.

"Shut up." Edward snarls, straightening his back and walking over the crunching glass. "Just shut  
up."

"You're angry?" Harry displays his typical don't-care attitude when Louis isn't around. He's  
deceiving that way.

"I gave up my life for you, you fucking imbecil!" Edward raves, deeming this the correct time to do  
so after a life wasted. "The least you could do is show appreciation."

Harry got to his feet and stopped walking when he was right in front of Edward. A strip of starch  
blond hair was hanging over Edward's eye, and Harry reached up to move it. "I never asked you to  
do that."

* * * * *

**"We're calling the police." Louis states with finality.**

"Louis, don't!" She has to make her way past the couch separating them in order to stop him.

His fingers are already sliding across the touch screen keypad to dial Middleston's only police  
precinct, when the unwelcome barbarian outside becomes an intruder. Louis blood runs cold in his  
body when the door swings open and a body of gym quality stomps through.

His mother was so desperate to get away from this man but she couldn't _lock the bleedin'  
door._

* * * * *

Liam answers his hotel room door when the concierge calls to alert him of a visitor with blond hair  
and brown roots. Niall stands on the other side of the door with a crestfallen look about his face,  
creases on his forehead that made him three years older.

"Hey." Liam greets skeptically, moving aside to let his Duckling in even after he sees the black bag.  
"Hi." Niall dumps his bag at the foot of the only bed in here and sits on the mattress.

"What's up?" Liam shuts the door and takes a seat next to him. "I tried cal-"

"I know. Sorry I didn't answer." Niall pulls in a sharp inhale. "I left Lou."

Liam begins to feel extremely awkward. "I didn't know you two were-"

"We're not _together_, fool. He's my best ever friend and I left him crying on the couch."

"Niall." Liam starts, fitting his arm around Niall's shoulders and pulling him in. "What happened?"

"I had a shift yesterday, right?" Niall doesn't pause for the detective to answer. "I sent him a text but  
he didn't answer so I went home to check on him. He was with someone and I accidentally walked  
in on them so I just left for work."

Liam listens to Niall silently with his support offered in the form of a side hug and a kind, soft  
voice. 

"I come back in the morning after my shift and guess who the Hell I find naked as a newborn in our  
kitchen?" Niall's temperature seemed to rise when he shouted that question, his anger resolved once  
again.

"Who?" Liam's been working without breaks on the case Louis offered him, so he really doesn't  
want to guess the wrong thing.

"_Edward Styles!_"

Now Niall isn't the only one who's paying utmost attention to his story. Liam's frown becomes the  
focal point of his face as he processes this. He knows Edward, not personally but well enough via  
hearsay. What was Louis doing with him? The man was a born, bred psychopath.

"What was he doing-"

"He's the one Louis fucking slept with!" Niall wakes up and starts doing rounds from the window to  
the bathroom door and back.

"Fuck. What do you want me to do?"

* * * * *

**His mother was so desperate to get away from this man but she couldn't _lock the bleedin'  
door._**

"Go, Louis!" She wraps her hand around his arm and pulls hard enough for him to stumble on the  
carpet and the stranger at the door to see them.

The mood gets tense with destructive anticipation and the black sunken eyes of the Russian in  
Louis' doorway seem to be carnivorous. Louis ducks under his mother's arm to keep from tripping  
them both and doesn't let go of her when she pushes him away. She's his mother. He can't leave her  
to face this on her own.

"_Johannah!_" The curbed accent of a man away from his native tongue lashes out in a  
barking echo.

Louis gets an eyeful of the man when he steps into the lounge with them. He's wearing a crinkly  
leather jacket and brown crocodile skin shoes, his shirt is black but doing nothing to slim the bulky  
structure of his torso. His muscle was intimidating and in excess, a frightening sight to have in a  
room with no illumination.

"Ian, please listen." She tries to reason with him, holding her hand out in front of herself.

"Listen to what?" He bellows, not caring in the slightest for the boy standing behind his target. "I  
have learnt from Joey that you left town. What of that?!"

"I-I just....-" She takes a step back when he surges forward, tripping on the stupid rug. "I needed  
some time!"

"You did?" Ian advances on her and Johannah shoves Louis out of the way to be safe from a fatal  
collision.

Louis falls with his feet still planted on the ground, his bout of flight stunted by his mother's weight  
landing on his legs. He screams with the weight of two bodies on his knees, crushing him without  
thankfully causing severe damage. His head hits the floor with a sickening crack but the universe is  
spiteful enough to leave him conscious.

The ringing in his ears get so loud that he unintentionally blocks out the horrific sound of a hard fist  
on under-nourished cheekbones. Louis doesn't even muster enough strength to look back, let alone  
help, with his vision so _blurry_ and thoughts so scrambled. He's breathing heavily, coughing  
a red substance onto the wooden floor.

Behind him is the worst scene of his existence and he can do nothing about it. He has to get his  
phone and dial the police, but the device has slid across the room to the far end. Resisting the need  
to choke up sobs because of the searing pain of the hurt tissue in his leg, his head having the  
sensation of a bomb repeatedly going off in his head.

He pulls himself free from the mass of violence and torturous nature of the treatment his mother is  
going through. He's curled up against a nearby pillar, in considerate beats of thick blood racing  
through his veins. There's blood on his legs and the foggy moving image of what's happening to his  
mother is engrained in his mind.

By crawling he gets to his phone in time and dials the 10111 for the police. His hand his shaking  
and his his voice was close to non-existent. Louis swallowed the impulse to just lay there in a  
puddle of screeches.

"Pl-Please co-ome t-t-to thirt-thirty-one W-Wo-odh-hurst." He stuttered terribly into the receiver, his  
hand holding his body up.

That limb began top vibrate but Louis groaned and upheld himself until the will gave way and he  
fell again. He wished for a deep sleep but none was coming, the pain and nausea raking through him  
like the devil's pitchfork.

He can hear silence now and blinks close to a dozen times so his vision clears even a little. The  
Russian monster has turned towards him and is lacking any form of injury, so he's at his full  
physical potential when he gets to his feet again. He's muttering something in his home language  
whilst taking the steps forward needed to reach Louis.

The boy knows this could mean a death, a horrible death with all the hurt in the world. With that  
motivation he hauls himself to his feet, relying on just one leg for lumbar support. The adrenaline in  
his body has reduced to a dwindling figure of insignificance, but Louis insists on at least getting  
behind a closed door.

The door was closed but someone still knocked on it, oblivious to the happenings inside Louis'  
apartment.

Louis heard the Russian shouting at him, for him, behind his back but he was already in the  
doorway. If he could get outside he'd lock the apartment whether it was Niall or the police here at  
this time. 

It takes three tries to grab the door handle and when he gets it right, there's a strong hand gripping  
the back of his shirt. The mobster with bloodied fists tugs on Louis and the boy's stumble  
backwards pulls the door open with the force exerted.

It's not Niall or the police.

At the time at Louis sees his demise because of a head-on smack involving his skull and the cold  
wooden flooring, he feels relief at the hand grabbing his wrist. It has to be Edward because that's  
whose chest he gets pressed up against within a breath's timing. Also the hand on his back is  
forfeited by force.

"Petal." Edward greets gruffly.

He cradles the back of Louis' head with his whole hand, fingertips buried in the soft locks. His other  
arm comes around Louis' back, holding the boy upright.

"You're safe." Edward pets the curve of Louis' spinal column, reassuring him with his voice filtering  
alone into his foggy mind.

Louis just understands in his state of fuzzy confusion and spike in energy that he is safe now and  
cares not for the state of Edward's shirt when he holds on tightly. The man looks over at Harry, who  
had gotten the Russian's hand off Louis.

"Can I?" Harry was beaming, dazzling smile of charm and hope once again overcoming his  
features.

Edward picked Louis up by the backs of his knees and nodded. "Have fun."

Carrying Louis towards the elevators, Edward hears the apartment door shut and his brother's  
maniacal laugh. He rolls his eyes. Yes, the Russian he saw is a giant with bark for muscle but his  
brother is swifter than anything he's known and has always worked things the hard way. Harry can  
take anyone down.

Edward notices the police arrive and park haphazardly, the ambulance as well just shortly after  
them. He doesn't stop moving away from the building until he's got Louis in the back seat of the  
Rover. When the first officer opens the complex's door, Edward calls Harry.

"Get out." He says and hangs up.

He notices that Louis has passed out laid out on the seat, one arm over his front and his turned to the  
side. Edward wishes to tallest order of Divine Providence to give him an answer as to _why_  
he feels this way. Like his body is slowly removing a layer of skin one at a time and letting him feel  
the pain of a futile healing on top of the anticipation of a fresh ripping.

An EMT comes to take Louis away to the ambulance station on a gurney, conducting an  
examination.

"Does he need to go to the hospital?" Edward asks the jittery paramedic. A young female who is  
probably well aware of who is next to her.

"N-" She thinks it over by glancing at her partner. "No."

Her partner chooses to speak next, definitely much older with a tan line on his finger but no ring.  
"He doesn't have a concussion and we'll set his ankle now with a simple brace."

Edward nods and let's them carry on, taking three strides away from them, glancing back ever so  
often out of a strange nag to ensure the estranged professionals aren't taking his petal away.  
Harry comes jogging down the front steps after a group of officers hurry inside, smiling innocently  
at them as he passes by. His hands are stuffed into his pockets unsurprisingly as he spots Edward  
and makes his way over.

"How's Lou?" He stops to pull in a breath through his nose and not remove his hands.

The wind seems to have picked up in the past twenty minutes and Edward felt the chill set in deep  
into his scalp from the breeze wading through the individual strands of hair. Harry's mane was  
blowing in the wind, only slightly lifting off his shoulders before being caught by his hand.

"Not okay." Edward said coldly, turning back towards the mobile ER station set up. He's sick to his  
deepest bowel in the twisted chords of his soul worrying about Louis. "Who the fuck was that?"

The thin, grim line of Harry's lips turned into a signature smirk as they stood side-by-side watching  
a flurry of people work their magic to contain the gruesome drama. A crowd was forming and  
yellow police tape was put up to enclose the busy region.

People saw the Styles and immediately jumped to conclusions. _They're at it again. They were  
just released, weren't they? Where's that boy they're always behind? Why isn't he- oh he is._  
"Later, brother." Harry looked at the two new gurneys being carried out of the building, both with  
white sheets over them.

The first one was neat and immediately slid into the coroner's vehicle, while the second had blood  
stains worsening at the front where the face should be. The red got deeper and wet the white cloth  
over a greater surface area. Harry found it glorious and Edward knew why.

"Your handiwork?" He asked, their fight from earlier in the day already forgotten.

Harry held the door open for Edward to carry and position Louis in the back seat of the Range  
Rover. The light was dimmed. "You know it."

A minute shy of Edward stopping his laughter to get in the driver's seat, a new car pulled up and  
none other than Louis' loud best friend hopped out.

"Oh _shit_." Niall muttered to himself, not waiting for Liam to get off and pull out his badge.  
"Let me through! I live here!"

Liam catches him around his waist and timidly leads him around the side, Edward and Harry  
watching everything play out like Gods over a chessboard. Harry closed the back-seat door so Louis  
could not be seen by anyone. Niall would have caught a police officer by the ear and demanded a  
full explanation if Liam hadn't done it first.

"Home invasion, Sir." The young officer answers them, more Liam than Niall. "Two dead and one  
injured."

The blond knew Louis was the injured one because if it wasn't then he was going to bring his best  
friend back with whatever voodoo necessary to yell at him for being involved in this. Louis was  
resilient as fuck, in Niall's unbiased opinion.

There's no way his friend didn't make it. Niall chewed his thumb and swore himself, internally beat  
his better judgment because it resulted in Louis facing this alone. _Who were the two that died?  
Who killed them?_

Niall's gasp gets Liam to pay attention, when the only true conclusion falls onto him. The former  
scans the crowd and every busy body moving around this aftermath control team until it lands on  
the most attractive vehicle he's ever seen in this tiny town. There isn't even a Range Rover  
headquarters here.

"Liam." The man seems to have lost interest and Niall smacks his arm thrice. _"Liam."_

They both turn their attention to where Niall is all but pointing a giant laser. Edward and Harry  
deem it the ideal time to get going before contact is made. Harry makes his way around the side to  
the passenger's side and Edward returns to the driver's, shooting a wink Niall's way before finally  
getting in.

* * * * *

The first thing Louis noticed when his consciousness became active was that he hadn't woken up in  
his own bed. A damn bursts and every memory from the time he spilt ice cream on a fellow student  
on campus to the most recent event of watching his mother _die_ in his peripheral comes  
rushing in.

He panics at the thought of the Russian man grabbing his shirt and yanking him back. _Had he  
taken him? Where is he?_

"Petal."

Louis' never been - and hopefully never will be - so relieved to hear that pet name he didn't consent  
to. He sits up and winces at once was a dull throbbing, now having escalated to a more trashy  
blistering pain in his skull. It makes him whimper and cover his face to control the dizziness taking  
over him.

The bed dips and Louis tries moving away from the additional person, still experiencing unclear  
vision and not trusting himself. His plagued with the images of what happened. He saw it happen,  
he watched her skull cave in at the hand of a underground ring leader. Her blood was on his skin  
He throws off the covers to check his legs, where the crimson splatters were.

"Petal." Edward was seated on the edge of the bed and the covers didn't budge, he didn't move to  
make it easier either.

Edward had sat here, in this room with a dusty ceiling, for four consecutive hours with a bottle of  
whiskey and six glass tumblers. He'd broken them all when _this feeling_ got so sensitive, so  
raw and so real that he couldn't take it. When Gerard tried entering the room with food he threw a  
glass at him, then three more at his brother. 

He didn't bother to apologise or let himself regret any of what he did, because _this fucking  
feeling_ was driving him right to the brink of self control. Harry could be very selfish and  
Edward wanted to have this time with his hurt petal. He deserved that, he decided.

Louis was disorientated. Edward held his wrists and leaned in so close that his lips brushed over the  
baby hairs of Louis' skin. The boy recognised his voice even if he didn't trust appearance, couldn't  
see past the disturbing video playing over and over and over in his mind.

"You're alright, my petal." Edward releases a corner of the insulated sheets and brings Louis onto  
his lap. "Safe and still beautiful."

Louis broke down in Edward's lap. It was too much for him to keep seeing what he saw long after it  
was over. He fisted Edward's unbuttoned and easily creased shirt with small hands, crying without  
restraint into the man's neck. His ankle was numb from painkillers and sat uselessly on the mattress.

"You are astonishing, petal." Edward held him back. After these past four hours this is the most  
secure he's ever felt. "You cry so softly when you have the right to scream."

Louis can only fold one leg on Edward's lap, the other sprawled out in front of him. He hiccups and  
closes his eyes, the whimpers getting worse because of the pain shooting down his spine. Edward  
kisses his forehead and let's him lose as much as he can in this time.

The boy sees it again and again. His eyes close and it's on the back of his eyelids. He opens them  
and no matter where he looks, he's still locked in his apartment with a bull of a man.

"You can go back to sleep." Edward knows he has to keep his voice low for the sake of Louis'  
headache. "Just take the tablets you have to first, Lou."

Louis nods but his efforts are already planted in something else. He presses his nose and mouth to  
the inviting expanse of Edward's neck, getting the bitter scent of alcohol but not minding it. Edward  
rubs his back a few more times and lays Louis down on the pillows.

"Open." Edward asks him, tracing a cuboidal pill over Louis' lip. The boy parts his lips and let's it  
get set on his tongue, then some water for him to swallow. "Go to sleep, petal. I'm not leaving you  
alone."

Louis was hesitant and he seemed to stare at the pillow his head would use for two whole minutes  
before relaxing. His heart felt like it had become a virus and spread to every part of his body,  
sending it all into overdrive. He closed his eyes and didn't let go of Edward's shirt at the tail.  
Edward was crazy and temperamental but he's _Edward_ and Louis thinks trust is a common  
ground here.

Edward polishes off his whiskey bottle and lays down on the bed behind Louis. "I'm never leaving  
you alone."

What's different is that this time Louis hears him.

* * * * *

The doorbell downstairs rings on the galvanised pine wood door. Nobody in the house of the  
ownership's bloodline - or their _guest_ \- will ever get up to answer it so Gerard does what  
he's paid for.

"Good afternoon, Madam." He greets the humble, familiar face he's met with.  
Gemma Styles.

Edward and Harry's younger sister with a hearty smile and regular eyes stood there with her  
woollen hat and gloves. She's the most dangerous member of the Styles family, in dear old Gerard's  
opinion and experience. Gemma is the apple to Harry and Edward's eyes and they listened to  
everything she said without investigating. If she didn't like you, they took care of that. Yet she  
appeared to be such a harmless young lady with good morals, what lay underneath was conniving  
and manipulative.

"Hey, Jerry." She grinned toothily, removing her gloves and wiping her feet on the 'Welcome' carpet  
outside.

"Miss Styles." He took her coat and satchel from her, stepping aside to hang them up.  
"How have you been, Jerry?" She blows warm air into the oyster-shaped pocket she created with  
both her hands.

"Same as always, Miss Gemma. How was Oxford?"

"Monotonous and dreary, but I've gotten the weekend off which I count as a plus."

"I do as well." He nodded and motioned for her to follow him. "A snack?"

"No thank you." She waves away the offer politely. "I'm here for my brothers. Where are they?"

Gerard paused, stumbling over a reason  
.  
She noticed. "Jerry?"

"Edward is upstairs, Harry is in the study."

* * * * *

Harry was angry and scared and confused, but most of all he was _alone._

Edward won't let him go see Louis when he really, so urgently wanted to because Louis had the  
power to make him happier. Louis had more control over him than Edward and it's been hardly over  
a week of knowing one another.

He's also angry and lost in despair because Louis, who he held in the mightiest regard, was hogging  
all his brother's attention. That was not on. Harry used to have Edward to go to when he felt as  
unstable and insecure as he did now, which he didn't mind sharing with Louis at times but now he  
was left to his own despicable devices. 

Louis and he were having so much fun earlier today so how did that happen to them? He even saved  
Louis!

He didn't know who to be angry with most. Edward wasn't at fault, simply because Harry knows his  
brother all too well. Louis was in a fragile state so maybe he just wasn't thinking clearly. The  
demons in Harry's head refused to let him believe that.

How could their petal do this to him? It wasn't fair. If Louis wanted comfort, Harry can offer him  
solace as well. But no, those two are upstairs forgetting all about him.

Louis couldn't have Edward all to himself, that's not how things work.


	13. Chapter Thirteen

_How do you tell a lunatic you're in love with him? He already knows._

***NARRATOR'S POV***

Gerard did not object when Gemma wanted to see Edward first, seeing as she picked up on his lean  
towards Harry. With that, he went outside to her Chevrolet to collect her bags while the Styles  
princess herself took the staircase two at a time.

She followed the woven carpet down the haunting hallway to the bedroom door that her instincts  
brought her to every night of a nightmare as a child. Without knocking, her hand grabbed the brass  
knob and twisted it so the familiar ache in her wrist signalled the release of the latch.

When Gemma found her brother sleeping fully clothed around a person, she did not expect in her  
wildest dreams for that person to be smaller than him and not share well over 90% of their family  
gene structure.

She paused in the hallway and frowned deeply, still grasping the door handle and watching her  
older sibling comfort some stranger. "Edward?"

Edward sat up with such sudden gusto it was as if someone administered to him a shot of  
adrenaline. He looked at his sister and swung his legs over the edge of the bed. "Sister."

"I don't see you and the halfwit in half a decade, yet I'm allowed to return to this sight." She  
gestures distastefully to the figure in Edward's bed, under his covers.

"That's no concern of yours."

Edward wraps his arm around her shoulders and smiles down at her. They haven't seen each other in  
such a long while, as stated, and he's missed the only other person of his bloodline he'll spend time  
alone with.

"Of course it is." Gemma tries not to be dragged out of the room, as she would appreciate a close  
examination of the intruder.

"Do not call our brother a halfwit, Gemma." Edward walks out with her under his arm, careful not  
to hurt her while ushering her along.

His mind nagged him, or at least the hidden subconscious within his mind. He shouldn't be leaving  
Louis alone but if he stayed then Gemma would stay and he's not fond of his sister harassing his  
petal while the latter is in such a fragile state.

* * * * *

Harry hears screams, vicious cries that are deafening even with his ears blocked and soft muttering  
to himself. He smoothly jumps to his feet and races out of the study he buried himself inside,  
rushing up the expansive staircase towards the passage of their bedroom.

He hesitates at the door, his arm frozen as it was outstretched in the air and his mind struggling to  
make itself up. "Why should I go in?"

It was Louis screaming without a doubt and it didn't sound very sensible either. Broken phrases and  
names muffled by the fabric of a pillow, so they were most likely triggered by his ill dreams.

"Why did I hear him then?" Harry hates his habit of talking to himself but it's what shoved him past  
the barrier of the door at this moment.

Louis was thrashing about on the bed - Edward's bed - and looked to be near death with the sheets  
strangling his body. Harry couldn't let him die, or at the very least hurt himself. He cared for this  
boy so much even if he's not sure about reciprocation as yet.

He broke the only rule he had with his older twin and grabbed ahold of the sheets clinging to Louis'  
body, suffocating him in his desperate attempts to break free. Harry sat on the very edge and yanked  
the coverings away, peeling Louis' body free of obstruction.

"Petal." He reached out tentatively but in Louis' sleep fit, his arm was slapped away. "Petal!"

Louis only woke up after Harry scooped him up like a child and ignored the pain of small beatings  
against his back, arms and chest. His head was secured and legs parted to bring him onto Harry's  
lap. When his eyes sprung open he was being held by Harry, lifted off the bed and whispered to in  
his red ear.

Comfort seemed to be key in a situation like this, so Harry tried to do what he could from observing  
Edward. He was standing with Louis against, around and across him like a vine. As he walked  
around the room, he either rubbed Louis' back or secured his hold on the boy.

"Hush, sweet petal." He banded an arm around Louis' back. The shirt Louis wore was damp with  
the pattern of sweat, exposing skin as it rode up. "I used to have nightmares too. They're just  
nightmares and all you have to do is open your eyes."

Louis rubbed his nose, cold but red at the tip, and his fingers began to hurt as they gripped Harry's  
shirt. The fabric was held in his clammy palms and he still shivered from the imagery of a heavy  
Russian fist colliding with his skull. He closed his eyes and whimpered.

"It's over now, isn't it?" Harry brushed the back of Louis' neck with his thumb and forefinger. "Just a  
nightmare, it was."

It took six circulations of the master size bedroom for Louis to even loosen his clutches. Harry felt  
the boy fall back off to sleep, not having spoken a word since his last bout of consciousness. He  
can't be blamed, Harry knows that, and he thinks they've made some progress with their bonding.  
Maybe Louis cared for him too, judging by how he held him back.

"My bed it is, petal." Harry spoke to the sleeping boy, laying him down on his crisp sheets with his  
head on the pillows and legs under the duvet. 

Louis' hands fell onto the pillows beside his head, his lips parting just a little as his exhaustion and  
the throbbing of a cruel headache got the upper hand.

Harry watched him sleep for as long as his legs would not stiffen from lack of movement. He didn't  
disturb the perfectly tranquil scene of Louis being void of wakefulness, did not lean forward and  
just _graze_ the much too tempting sight of Louis' exposed tummy. There should be a victory  
for not doing this.

* * * * *

"How's the halfwit?" Gemma's arm was around Edward's waist, and outside near the lake is where  
they walked amongst the dry leaves and air.

"Do not call him that, sister." Edward stared ahead, eyes darting every two seconds at the window  
of their bedroom.

"So he's the same." Gemma sighs, looking at her boots crunch the soil. "I do apologise for not being  
here the day of your release."

Edward mocked her sentiment with a smirk, when in actual fact he'd forgotten all about her on that  
day. Louis had been there. Their nervous and slightly - but no longer - afraid little petal with eyes to  
contend with the oceans of the world.

"No need." Edward cleared his throat. "You're here now, aren't you?"

That's the other million dollar question that's harping on the windmills of his mind. How long does  
she plan to stay? He really enjoys his sister's company but neither him nor Harry are ready to  
introduce Louis to her. She can be possessive, just as they are, and won't be so accepting of the boy  
this early.

"I intend to stay the weekend. Just the weekend." She laughs, carefree. "Who was in your bed  
earlier?"

Edward didn't want to answer. He was under no obligation either, but his sister was so precious to  
him and he could never lie to her. "My petal. Ours, rather."

"He looked very human to me, brother." Gemma recalls the small and petite form of the person  
cradled by her brother's body.

"His name is Louis and he is very dear to both Harry and I." Edward turned them around when they  
came to the edge of the yard. "He's been through something of a damaging nature and needed me."

"You comfort him?"

"Of course I do."

Gemma spun out of her brother's hold and stood in front of him, confident presence that she was  
even a head shorter than him. She hooked her hands over her hips and narrowed her eyes on his  
face. 

"You care for him." She stated bluntly, loudly enough that the wind carried the message to all four  
corners of the Earth.

"I do." Edward's pockets swallowed his hands. "As I-"

"_Not_ as you care for the halfwit and I. Do not bluff me, Edward." She poked his chest and  
her lack of acceptance concerning this new _person_ was abundantly clear in the ferocious  
green of her eyes. "You never once shared a bed with either of us in times of need and comfort."  
"You never needed it." He told her blatantly. "You were strong from the beginning."

"You prey on him because he's weak?"

The statement turned rude question gnawed on the fibres of Edward's nerves and he stepped closer  
to her with the stealth of a predator.

"I do not _prey_ on my Louis and I never did. You should not have met under these  
circumstances but now that you have, I will not allow you to turn into something pathetic and  
jealous."

"Then get rid of him." She crossed her arms, and said it like she was asking him to take out the  
trash.

"No." He glared at his preposterous sister. "You are welcome to stay if you will remain respectful of  
Harry's and my wishes to be with Louis."

"And if not?"

Edward failed to feel an ounce or inkling of regret when he stepped around her on his march back to  
the house. "I'll have Gerard get your bags packed then."

* * * * *

"It's just after midnight, petal." Harry informs the awake but incoherent boy who has started  
shuffling beside him.

Louis slowly opens his eyes and looks up at Harry in bleak trepidation. He remembers waking up  
and being carried like a toddler around the room by this maniac until he fell asleep again. It's the  
most cared for he's felt in three years.

"How'd you....-" Louis swallows the dryness of his throat, saliva coating the rough edges so he can  
speak. "How'd you know I was going to ask?"

Harry gave him a wry smile with the corner of his mouth. Louis stayed curled into a tight ball under  
the sheets until he heard the man's voice answer him.

"I didn't." The ominous response didn't seem to belong to such a bland question, but they let it slide.  
Taking a chance, Louis extended his arm and touched Harry's arm. He was hoping for more careful  
reassurance and comfort like before, as his bones still rattled and he was more than a little shaken  
up.

Harry recoiled and Louis' heart broke.

It was a small _thing_ that neither could put a label on to make life easier, but Harry not  
wanting Louis to touch him was clear enough. He was filled with, slathered in and swathed by the  
thousands of ruthless emotions with cutting edge harsh conditions. He didn't know what to do or  
start saying when this happened.

He simply turned over away from Harry with the fresh burn of salt water in his eye, and hoped for a  
nightmare so Harry could do what he did. He dreaded a nightmare in the same breath.

* * * * *

Louis woke up to being unable to move whatsoever.

His panic and fright settled into the marrow of his jittery bones and he struggled against the  
restraints. He kicked against the weight and wriggled with his horror slipping out of him in scared  
noises. The restraints got tighter suddenly and Louis assessed that they were in the forms of human  
arms around his upper body.

Harry was holding him, deep into his sleep but his own hands and shoulders were held down by the  
man's circled arms. Louis' headache was dimming and the pain in his ankle was hardly there save  
for when he tested the muscle.

"My sister hates you." Came a voice from a person Louis didn't think was in the room.

He sinks back against Harry initially, calmed thereafter by recognising the voice as Edward's. His  
sister? What sister?

"I-I'm sorry." Louis whispered, temporarily lost for somewhere to look as he spoke.

Edward sat in a sofa suitable for one person, his leg crossed so his ankle rested on his knee, right  
across from Louis. It's easy to miss him when he's hidden by the all encompassing shadow of the  
room's corner, a glass of something golden in his hand.

"She made me choose, petal." Edward spoke as Harry's arm got tighter, but not uncomfortably.  
"Between you and her."

Louis wasn't fully awake and couldn't make proper conversation when he was being smashed into  
the finest set of bedding he's come across. He had a man twice his size weighing down on his spine  
yet couldn't find a reason to want to move away.

"I chose you and she left." Edward continues, drowning what was left in his glass.  
Louis doesn't know what's happening. He feels Harry's heavy breathing on his neck and the shift of  
his chest against his back, but that's all he's fully convinced of. 

"What are you doing in his bed, petal?" Edward set the tumbler down and stood up.

Harry's arm _conveniently_ tightened in a way that it slid off the wider expanse of Louis'  
shoulders to over them, the bulging of his biceps blocking half of Louis' face. Louis is beginning to  
presume that he's not even asleep. Nonetheless, he took the available excuse and didn't answer.  
Looking away, Louis tried to internally drug his heart into slowing down before he got to  
experience medical convulsing.

Edward didn't ask again and with the same clothing from earlier, now far more creased and stained,  
steps up to the length of his bed. His head lowers into the moonlight and Louis gets an eyeful of the  
incredible intensity masked by illness in the man's eyes. Those very same eyes met with Louis' and  
Edward's mouth fell open to say something, but he found action would speak thunder.

His hands gripped the mattress of his bed and his knees had a loud impact with the wooden  
structure below. He bit his lip to chew off some of the strain, in order to not look away from Louis  
who was staring astoundedly back.

Harry was certainly awake for the disrespectful and awful noise of Edward dragging his entire bed  
construction forward didn't cause him to be roused. His arms did lower back to Louis' hips,  
convincingly gliding like the drawl of his voice.

Louis managed push Harry's arms away and sit up in alarm, the noise from wooden stubby legs on  
rickety tile work filling his ears irritably. _What was Edward doing? Why is he moving  
everything?_

It wasn't until the side of Edward's bed, longer in length pressed up and slotted into place with  
Harry's, that he realised what all of this was. He looked up silently with a million questions running  
at twice the steroid speed in his head, but none needed answering now.

Edward had joined their beds, made one big space rather than two separate ones. Their promise to  
never go near each other's beds was intact even now. Louis looked on as Edward got rid of his pants  
and shirt, staying in his colourless vest and black Calvin Klein's.

"I've come to a conclusion." He spoke softly, skipping over all the blank distance and lining himself  
up with Louis.

Louis took Edward's hand when it reached towards him, his cheek and jaw. Edward smelt ripe with  
alcohol but Louis knew honestly that he'd take the booze over having no one where Edward is.  
"What's the conclusion?" Louis asked him, soft as a whistle.

Edward took a deep breath and smiled, light bouncing perfectly off the edges of his teeth so they  
shone magnificently in the moonlight. "Close those eyes, petal. Get some sleep."

* * * * *

Niall threw himself onto Liam's bed, depicting excellently the religious stubbornness of his  
heritage. "You're a jerk, Liam Payne."

"Duckling, I've told you already." Liam breathed a heavy sigh, removing his Tag Hueur watch and  
jacket. "This is _not_ my jurisdiction and if the officials here say he went willing with them  
then I can't do a damn thing."

"Yeah but-" Niall rolled over onto his back, staring at the ceiling with hatred. "-that's dumb as fuck."

"I agree." Liam situates himself alongside the valleys Niall creates in his bed sheets. "However, I  
don't make the rules."

"We should go get him." Truthfully, Niall was rife with guilt and wanted his chance to apologise to  
his best friend.

"If he's really there consentually, he won't come easily."

"Yeah I know." When Niall turned onto his side, his elbow propping himself up, Liam followed suit.  
"What should we do, detective?"

Liam rubs the sleepiness from his face with his palms, then throwing the corresponding arm over  
Niall's hips. "Lou knows what he's doing, Duckling. He's an adult."

"At least-" Niall sucks his lip between his teeth. "-if he doesn't come to work on Monday, you'll do  
something about it?"

"I promise." Liam stretches across the foot long gap to kiss Niall, who responds by slipping a hand  
into his hair before pulling Liam down over him.

* * * * *

Louis has been awake since the crack of dawn when the ravens outside first started to screech, and  
didn't move unless some part of him fell asleep. He was always preserved in the impressive  
unrelenting double bars around his waist. Sometimes during his slumber Harry's fingers would flex  
could be ticklish if Louis didn't feel anything but paralysing guilt and grief.

It's been a day. A single day consisting of twenty-four hours that has passed and yet Louis felt like  
he lived his twenty years in that time.

Niall and he fought, their biggest argument to date. He was attacked in his own home and saved by  
the pair of souls he never thought would be the saviour kind. His biological mother suffered a  
miserable death and he was too unconscious with a sprained ankle to say goodbye.

Edward and Harry's sister who he never had the pleasure of meeting seemed to have disapproved  
him, but the miracle was that Edward stuck with _him._

_How could he? Why would he?_

Louis remembers Edward telling him he was twice as passionate as any man he could have ever  
known. Now, courageously caressing the stray locks of near white hair that's gone askew and  
listening to the owner's grumbles of appreciation, Louis doesn't doubt any of what he said. 

Harry. Bipolar - although not properly diagnosed as such - and mercurial Harry Styles who hated  
Louis then didn't want to release him, is the biggest mystery of this world. Louis also didn't want  
the world sharing him and that's one of the main reasons he made dozens of efforts to play along  
with the man.

Louis' ankle throbbed vengefully under the covers, Harry's leg close to his in the jigsaw puzzle  
situation they were compromised with. He never wanted to leave this bed - or beds - but knew he  
had to once certainly conscious lips starting placing kisses along the back of his neck.

It was a poor distraction from the inability of him to move his foot but Louis was satisfied with  
what came his way. Harry had licked his lips because the moisture could be felt as Louis bowed his  
head towards Edward's chest so Harry had more space to work.

"I know I didn't wake you." Harry's early morning rasp sounded off at the closest proximity to  
Louis' ear.

Louis holds onto Harry's wrist as he turns himself over, his capable leg slipping when Harry grabs  
his fingers and hastens the process. Louis ends up face to face with him, noses bumping  
unintentionally from how exceedingly close they were. Harry breathed and still had fresh breath,  
proving the point of something Divine personally constructing him. Demon or God.

"For last night-" Harry had an arm stuck around Louis' middle, fingers curled over his ribcage. "-I  
apologise, petal."

The enchanting green of emerald that Harry possessed in the jewels of his orbs created tiny homes  
in Louis' eyes at that moment. Louis couldn't be at his greatest in the morning - from experience he  
knew he wasn't. He had a small bandage on his neck and a more major one on his ankle, most likely  
a purple bump on his forehead but Harry still looked at him like he was a gentle, exotic desire.

Louis looked down, not meaning for his gaze to land directly on his squashed hands. They were  
pressed and held against Harry's chest, the latter's skin was warm and smelt of toast. Maybe Louis  
was hungrier than originally assumed.

"Petal?" Harry tried again, lowering his face in their limited space to regain Louis' attention.  
Turning away again, Louis didn't let Harry convince him to look up. He's in the arms of the most  
psychotic man in Middleston history, and he'll never forgive himself for feeling so _safe._  
"Petal, please."

Nevertheless, Harry still hurt Louis when he rebuked the boy. He was intelligent to figure that out at  
this moment when Louis won't look at him. He seized Louis' wrists and when the boy turned away,  
he followed with his lips and his face twisted into something akin to agony.

"I don't know why I did that to you." Harry sounded too emotional for this early in the morning. "I  
won't forgive myself, petal. You're becoming my only weakness and how can I deny you?"

It was enough to get Louis to turn back towards him, his eyes swimming in unshed tears. Where  
they came from he'll wish to know until his grave but now they were mostly okay. He parted his lips  
to say what he was planning during his silence, a gossamer thread of saliva still connecting them.  
It's easily cut when Harry surges forward and hypnotises him with a kind of kiss someone only  
experiences once in their life. 

The sound Louis makes isn't one he's proud of, but Harry had bitten and sucked on his bottom lip  
and he forgets all about it. He closes his eyes and welcomes the kiss like it could be his salvation  
from difficult times. Harry's frown mutates into something filled with pain, lingering dangerously  
close to physical pain.

He concentrates as he wraps his arm from under Louis' hip across his back, bringing the boy closer  
and sliding the muscle of his tongue over Louis' to tempt him. Louis is reluctant even then. When he  
tries retracting, Harry groans in deep-seeded want and worsens the condition of their kiss. He  
swallows Louis' fear and in return drowns the boy in everything he has to offer.

"I'm forgiven?" Harry didn't withdraw to ask, eyes searching and scorching as they bore into Louis'  
crystals. "Tell me I'm forgiven."

Louis can only nod. Nod and bury his fingers in Harry's hair, twisting the chocolatey curls between  
his fingers. He didn't initiate the second kiss but it was as unforgettable as the first one, leaving  
Louis lost for a train of thought.

"Forgiven, if that's really what you want." Louis spoke with a tender break in his voice.

"That's not _all_ I want, my petal." Harry was conducting the experimentation of rubbing silly  
patterns onto Louis' back and waiting for a reaction.

"It's four in the morning." Louis tells him, his lips swiping over Harry's stubble.  
"Would I be outrageous to propose a test of my culinary skills?"

Louis giggles into the bobbing motion of Harry's Adam's Apple because he's still easily influenced  
by the drug of Harry's charm. He also knows enough about the brothers to be certain that it's a  
genuine trait once one got to know them. Thirdly, Harry seems to be the only one who got Louis'  
mind off his mother's tragedy.

"My ankle." Louis says sadly with deflation of his enthusiasm.

"I will bring you your pills and then carry you with me down to the kitchen." Harry easily offers.  
"I'd appreciate it." Louis' eyes sparkle like newly discovered gems.

Harry goes to their bathroom, shuffling along towards the mirror cabinet above the basin. He fills a  
glass with water and takes the grey containers of prescription tablets to Louis, handing both over for  
consumption. Louis thanks him after a heavy swallow and when he's about to air-lifted, kisses a  
sleeping Edward's forehead.

Downstairs in the kitchen, the Styles family chef is just about getting ready to prepare breakfast  
when one of his masters walks in with an armful - both arms in actuality - of Louis.  
"Chef Robinson." Harry greets the Scottish cook with a pleasant face and freckles about his nose.  
"You're off duty today."

Louis wordlessly wonders why their own staff don't give the twins the kind of fearful reaction that  
the general public gives them. He smiles at the chef who briefly tips his hat at him and is slid onto a  
stool - with such precision and attention paid to his position it's enough to get him to blush. 

"Good day then, Master Styles." Chef Robinson bids his employer, then turns to Louis. "Sir."

"Bye." Louis waves with just his fingers as the third person exits the kitchen.

Harry draws back the curtain over the double sink, allowing the faint sunlight peeking over the hill  
and through the clouds to enter the kitchen. Louis studies the place mat under his hands and keeps  
his leg propped up on the bar of the stool.'

"We have leftover beef." Harry tells him with the massive Samsung fridge opened to reveal its  
contents. "I know what to do with it."'

"Do you?" Louis' toes curl around the cold steel bar.

"Why don't you call me love?" Harry set the white casserole containing the beef, a bell pepper, four  
eggs and a block of cheese on the counter.

Louis would be choking had he been chewing or swallowing anything but plain air. Harry made the  
question so obscenely natural it might as well be _'How's the weather?'._

"Um...-" Louis picked at the root of the bell pepper while Harry found a grater and glass bowl. "I-I  
could...start now?"

Their awkwardness was tangible, and could be sliced with the bluntest knife in Louis' occasion.  
This answer however pleased Harry and he smiled brilliantly at the boy. Louis smiled back.

"What are you making, love?" Louis tacks on the endearment to his question, watching Harry pick  
up the grater to pick apart the block of gouda cheese.

Harry starts laughing and Louis has to look away from the ripple of his biceps as he grinded the  
cheese on metal slots.

"What?" Louis reaches over the marble surface to steal a couple shreds of cheese from the bowl.  
"Making love." Harry smirked at him, mirth evident, with a knife chopping up the bell pepper.  
Louis burst into a tiny fit of giggles behind his hand. "Why was that- oh I see."

It's such a childish and premature joke to make yet it's hilarious on a man as big and intimidating as  
Harry Styles. _Master_ Styles, in Chef Robinson's occupation. Harry chuckled along with  
Louis' amusement until he was ready to move onto add a skillet on medium heat with oil. He tosses  
the beef shreds onto the skillet and moves it around with a wooden spoon.

Harry starts to peel and shred baking potatoes while the smell of beef releasing some of its fat fills  
the kitchen. "Tell me about yourself, petal."

Louis gets to sit with the bowl of leftover cheese grates after Harry adds the peppers, potatoes and  
some onion to the beef. The aroma is intoxicating immediately but he still finds the effort to answer.  
"What would you like to know?"

"Why did you come to this town?" Harry looks him in the eye when he asks this, so heated is the  
intensity that Louis ducks his head. 

"The Madhouse was....appealing to me in my uni days." Louis folds his arms on the table and sighs.  
"Nobody else applied to intern there so I easily got placed."

Harry hummed, looking back down at the new skillet that was warming up. He cracked the eggs  
one by one into the hot oil and watched them sizzle until perfectly sunny-side up.

"Do you regret applying to the Madhouse?" Harry looks at him again, fetching salt and pepper from  
their spice rack.

Louis had to think about this one, and Harry seemed to understand that he wasn't hiding the truth  
but rather hoping to be completely honest. "Yes."

Harry pauses in his seasoning of the eggs with crunched pepper and the glass utensil its stored in  
slams onto the counter like a heavy fist. Louis wants to explain himself before something drastic  
and irreversible happened.

"I don't regret meeting you or your brother, Harry." Louis wished he could chew off his lip. "The  
Madhouse has not been the ideal place to work. The hours are long and because hardly anybody  
wants to do much other than get paid, the work piles up. It's _scary_ no doubt and the people I  
spend my day with are all traumatised or traumatising."

His rant did not go unheard by his current company, and Harry listened to every word with a small  
smile of satisfaction. Louis sharing his troubles is a tick off his checklist for acquiring affection.

"Why don't you leave, petal?" Harry asked him while he removed the beef hash from the skillet and  
served it in two medium-sized bowls, bits of gouda sprinkled on top of each with a peppered egg.  
"You've got no reason to stay."

Louis picks up the fork he's handed with a napkin and Harry sits next to him, their knees - Louis'  
one capable one and both Harry's - knocked together other until Louis' was between Harry's.

"I do." Louis spoke to the bowl of the best breakfast he could possibly have ever had. "I love my  
work in spite of my.....complaints specific to the Madhouse."

Harry nods and picks at the yolk of the egg until it pops and yellow seeps out onto the beef hash.  
Louis merely cuts a bit of the white part and feeds himself some of the hot meal.

"I've gotten many compliments about this." Harry says, speaking around his chewing with a closed  
mouth. "I'd appreciate your feedback most."

Louis chews and swallows two more bites before he answers with his fork pointed up. "You've fed  
me some of the best food of my life."

Harry's grin is infectious and Louis' palette leads him to smiling back just as broadly. When Harry  
suddenly leans forward like his sole intention is to kiss Louis, it's difficult for the one he's aiming  
for to resist. Tribulations forgotten, Harry wants to take severe advantage of what they're  
experiencing right now.

They kiss with shamefully greasy lips until someone other than them clears a throat. Louis jumps  
away from Harry but nothing fazes Harry enough to make him lessen his pace. 

"Oh don't let me interrupt." Gemma tilted her head to the side, smiling a little disturbingly at Louis.  
"You're.....petal?"

Her features were astonishingly resembling her brothers' and there was no doubt about who this  
woman is.

Louis twists his lips into a look of surprise and shrugs harmlessly. "I didn't choose the name. You  
must be Harry and Edward's sister?"

"Correct." She beams, less threatening now that Louis recognised her and walks up to him with her  
arm outstretched. "Gemma Styles, middle name Anne but that's irrelevant."

"Middle name William, also irrelevant." Louis shakes her hand, not at all surprised that her grip is  
as firm as her brothers'.

Despite his outright politeness and warm composure, Louis questions whether this is a  
hallucination. Didn't Edward say she left? Had that been a lie? Or had she returned? If so, what's the  
need to be so generous and tolerating?

"Sister." Harry gave his sister an excellent grin, the winner of any compelling and authentic  
dazzling contest.

"Hazza." She embraces him when he reaches over with one arm to squeeze her shoulders. "Doing  
well?"

Harry grunts and nods, returning to his food and Louis by re-altering his position. Louis didn't mind  
him communicating with his sister because he knows they haven't seen one another in a much too  
long time. Harry, however, is not of the same mindset.

Gemma knows to dismiss herself before someone else does it. Louis catches her mouthing 'halfwit'  
before walking out, whether to him or to the pillar at his back. He's caught staring at Harry after  
that, offended himself that a sister could insult her own blood that way. Jovially is acceptable and  
even then it can go too far.

"Harry?" Louis' aim is a little dodgy - sinfully inaccurate if his history is to be considered - when  
his lips land at the corner of Harry's mouth, but it's easily assuaged.

Subconsciously, Louis knows he'd fail all his majors as a psychologist in practice if he acted this  
way and acknowledged it. He couldn't bring himself to care at the time, just needing to convince  
good ol' Harry that he does _not_ share the same opinion as his sister.

Harry kisses back with as much enthusiasm as he always possessed, smiling into the kiss when the  
thrill got uncontainable. He licked his way around Louis' mouth and flicked the tip of his tongue  
over Louis' to coax him. The boy was breathless already but he moaned and lost the shaken feeling  
in his gut to Harry's treatment of his lips.

"You're so tiny, petal." Harry breathes in the voice of Mr. Tall, Dark and unfairly Handsome.  
"Deliciously tiny and perfectly suited."

Louis should have known that something was implied when Harry speaks in such a chill-seeking  
voice. 

With a squeak he's not proud of in any part of the world, Louis is carefully lifted by a high point on  
his ribcage that's conveniently just below his armpits. Harry isn't indelicate about setting Louis on  
his lap, resting both feet on the bar of the boy's empty stool so the platform is flat and comfortable.  
"Have we found ourselves a carrying fetish, love?" Louis brings his bowl of previously neglected  
food closer to him.

Harry lays his head on Louis' shoulder, lips curving at his ear. "My fetishes are all profound when it  
comes to you, petal."

* * * * *

"Wake up." Gemma doesn't care that it's hardly past five o'clock in the morning and she's throwing  
a pillow at her five-year institutionalised brother.

Edward knew she was there long enough to grab the pillow before it hit any part of him. Without  
opening his eyes, he speaks with a clear accent. "If you insist on being inconsiderate, I must insist  
that you're not welcome here."

"I just met with your....Louis." She says, taking a seat on Harry's warm but vacant bed. "He's with  
Harry downstairs."

"I'm aware."

"He is a pleasant lad." Gemma admits. "I can put up with him for the weekend."

Edward smiles and rolls over back to any available darkness. "You will not be allowed near him,  
dear sister."

"Well why not?" She whines. "I can tell this one will be around forever and I could tell him all  
about your quirks."

"He already knows and regardless, he's healing from a sprained ankle."

"So he can't run then, huh?"

The bed shifts again and Edward is staring at her with a steady glare, before he pushes himself up.  
He's got a painfully gut-like instinct that's dissolving more and more into anger.  
"Why would you say that?" He gritted his teeth and the hurt travelled in spirals to his jaw.

"Because it's fact, brother." She leans closer to him and kisses his cheek sweetly. "Something also  
tells me he'll make no attempt to run."

That's hardly a pleasing thing to hear for the ears of a man who has taught himself to hate of  
everything, then developed an undisciplined weakness with the blue-eyed beauty. He can't entirely  
say he's forgotten his sister's insult but with that said, he smirks and considers it mild.

"Go away." He hands her back her menacing pillow. "Leave me alone for a few more hours."

"You turn into a sickening little fond boyfriend whenever I bring that Louis chap up, you know."  
She stands up and straightens her jersey. "You know what that means, don't you?"

Edward was awake and staring at the blank spot where a curved dip sat on Harry's bed. "Yes."

He knew it even if he wanted to elude him for a little while longer. When his sister left the room in  
a hostile silence, he was left alone with his thoughts of Louis who he practically forced into their  
home and how to get the boy to love him.

Even half of what Edward was _beginning_ to feel  
would be more than the man ever felt he deserved.


	14. Chapter Fourteen

***NARRATOR'S POV***

Edward got out of bed when his thoughts morphed from scary to crippling. It didn't make a  
difference when he started descending the staircase and he had maintain that much more of his  
balance in order to keep stable. His demons that ruled the deepest fantasy of his imagination were  
alight and aloof, making him see double when there wasn't even anything there.

He was least surprised to find two of his house-mates in the kitchen, carrying on as teenagers do  
when the awkwardness of their first date has past. Ah yes, the date Edward promised.

"Is there a particular reason you and my brother are hidden in our kitchen?" He asked Louis when  
he got closer, near enough to the bemused boy to have the scent of his early morning sleepiness.  
"Harry cooked." Louis hadn't been able to finish his portion of the breakfast meal Harry prepared,  
and so offered some to Edward. "I can't finish it all."

"I can help with that, petal." Edward speaks with an increasing huskiness to his voice.

Louis feels the unwavering singe of eyes staring, open-ended and burning bright as it penetrated all  
the walls Louis put up to keep safe behind. Edward swallows hard and turns his attention with  
record-breaking speed as soon as Louis looks at him.

"Edwa-"

Edward can't handle this right now, as early as it is in the morning. He abandons all chance of  
helping Louis with any eating. "I'm going outside."

Harry catches Edward's line of sight in that moment, about to say what Louis soon will, and stops  
himself. He doesn't understand the look in his brother's eye and he knows _every_ look as of  
their birth.

"It's freezing outside." Louis comments, eyes squinting but so appealing and soft as they peered up  
at Edward.

The latter clenched his fists until he felt the sting of his nails digging into his palms, to keep from  
reaching out and caressing some sacred part of his personal holy grail. He didn't know what to  
_do_ when his petal looked at him this way, couldn't begin to comprehend the ordeal of what  
emotions it rendered highlighted and festering within him. It was beautiful torture.

Edward turns around and leaves before any more reason to not escape to their own yard - thinking  
of this place as Louis' home too made him nauseous with glee. He unlocked the glass sliding door  
and disappeared behind the curtains that whipped noisily in the new cool air. Edward shut it from  
the outside before the indoors got unbearable. 

"It's okay, petal." Harry was suddenly in front of Louis, drawing the boy's priceless attention back to  
him. "My brother is a man with many faces. He's just trying to protect you from them."

Louis doesn't say anything and when his cheek comes to rest on Harry's sturdy shoulder, his eyes  
are trained on the exit Edward made.

He loses his mind to his thoughts for a brief trek down his train of thought's path. Edward had  
become so...hostile? Is that an inappropriate adjective? Why was he keeping his distance after  
_last night_ when they hadn't even fought with a gruesome outcome.

"We need to ice your ankle, I believe." Harry breaks up the reverie that Louis' concentration zeroed  
in on.

Louis could only nod dumbly and hope it was act outside the duty of his vivid imagination. He let  
Harry help him off his perch on the maroon stool structure then be lifted entirely off the ground  
before laying down on a noisy couch. The fabric was remarkably smooth and turned a shade darker  
in brown when he ran his hand over the shiny tendrils of synthetic fur.

"Harry, please don't-" He started to get up when he realised what this man hoped to accomplished.  
Louis can take care of himself, even in this decrepit state.

"You're my top priority, petal." Harry kneeled with just one knee on the dark carpet of intricate  
design.

He was disabling Louis' ability to respond with full sentences, because even if the boy's focus was  
partially elsewhere a good portion remained steady. Green bore into the blue and the latter  
succumbed to what lust and offering the former gave.

Harry left him on the sofa to himself for a short while, assembling ice in a large bowl to carry back.  
He found an ice pack below the sink and took that as well.

Louis looked around him at the cosy environment he was tucked into. As a small creature on the  
couch now, upper body and half of his face hidden behind an empirical pillow, Louis' never felt  
tinier. The living room contrasted to the rest of the house so evidently that it was astonishing.  
Everything had been renovated and modernised, but this living space seemed to be exactly the same  
as when the first steel foundation was set down.

The television hung above an electric fire place, all one hundred plus inches of black LED screen  
with no plastic screen to hinder one's visual. The wood of the wall it stood against was deep-set oak  
and neatly varnished until glossy. Tall bookshelves with the correct stock of novels and music were  
on either side of that, reaching the ceiling with possibly a dozen levels of storage.  
* * * * *

Edward made his way around the corner of the house to his sister's window. She had a room here  
always, and nobody else slept in it. He saw no movement but also felt like he'd not approach her if  
there was. He was so confused with himself, with what his mind told him in comparison to his  
body. 

There was his mind, perfectly geared for any challenge except this particular one. Yesterday he had  
a little too much to drink and watched Louis sleep, but of course that's not what he regrets. He  
doesn't regret anything really, although he's not entirely sure.

Last night - or extremely early this chilly morning - he told to Louis what he vowed to never tell  
anyone. His affectionate intentions and actions were thrown out in the open, but not rejected by the  
boy. Edward wasn't insecure and didn't doubt himself as a bachelor, but he doubted himself as a  
worthy lover. Not physically, but with every other little thing that tagged along.

He was also torn like a sail between two opposing ship masts. What was the roaring of his heart  
whenever Louis grinned? Or the soaring and swooping in his abdomen when the boy was just  
pleased with him? He needed advice and the vicious cycle came back to the part where he only  
trusted Louis with that.

* * * * *  
accept that he knows what he's doing here. "I need to....see her."

"Your mother?" Harry was looking at him, pupils dilating before relaxing then back into a black pit.  
"She's dead, Louis."

Unknowingly, a wretched sound that's remotely like a sob surfaces on Louis' tongue. He didn't want  
to hear it even if it was true, not until he had come to peace with what he's witnessed. 

"I know that, Harry!" He didn't mean to erupt the way his inner role model was goading him onto  
doing.

Harry leaned back with the force of Louis' outburst like the photon waves physically jolted him  
aside. "Petal?"

He was back to being harmless and Louis didn't want to hurt someone harmless. Harry wasn't  
harmless, in truth. He was _Harry Styles_ with more blood on his hands than most serial  
killers that went unknown. It isn't fair that Louis can't help but treat him like an actual relation.  
"Sorry." Louis sniffed loudly and wiped the wetness from his cheeks with his sleeves. "Just.....take  
me to the hospital. Please."

Harry plunges their communication into a stricken silence. He says nothing and Louis has to take  
the only victory in his name as the fact that his ankle is not being completely broken by the strength  
of a man of Harry's stature. It's the only win he can pull from train wreck like this.

"I'll take you." Harry rubs over the distinct bone above Louis' foot with the circle formed between  
his forefinger and thumb.

He's standing with Louis' leg placed back on the cushion cradle before Louis can remind him that he  
doesn't possess a driver's licence.

* * * * *

Edward's got his act together by the time Harry comes to find him amongst the company of the  
greenest leaves in Middleston.

Their courtyard could be a prize winning one, something picturesque from the most expensive  
gardening and interior design magazines. It was a pity, in their heads, that such an obvious beauty  
had to be wasted in the hands of two destructive men.

Edward's going to get his perspective straightened out and in light of not being an average Joe, he  
does not need 'distance'.

"Petal wants to go to the hospital." Harry tells his brother in a straightforward timbre.  
"What for?" Edward turns away from the water fountain where the coy fish swam freely, orange and  
glimmering silver.

"You know what for, brother." Harry's middle three fingers slip into the deep pockets of his track  
pants. "His mother. His friend."

"The police will just end up coming here if we don't go to them, I suppose." Edward says with a  
leather-heavy sigh. "I'm coming."

He waits for his sibling to leave before releasing a breath from the forts of his lungs. That  
apparently doesn't happen and he's looking back over his shoulder at the still present other  
individual. 

"What else?" Edward turns to fully face him.

Harry shook his head and bit the inside of his cheek. "You're not the only one who knows you're  
being a jerk."

* * * * *

Louis has been in the living room flipping through one of the magazines that's on the coffee table.  
He's not entirely sure that anyone in this house spent time reading magazines about celebrity gossip  
and the latest type of hedge socially acceptable, but the novelty of it was adorable.

He's trying to distract himself of what he may be faced with at the hospital. Should he phone and  
burden his father? His sisters? He knows his dad is a decent guy and will take care of everything,  
fly down here if necessary. What about Niall? He misses his best friend so much.

"Um...Gerard?" Louis prays that he's reciting the correct first name when the butler walks in on his  
way to the kitchen.

Immediately the new entry whips around. "Yes, Master Tomlinson?"

_Wow. Such formality._ "Do you um- have a phone I could use?"

"Certainly." Gerard disappears into the next room, going down the path he hailed from.

Before he can return however, the brothers who co-own this estate walk inside from the  
unimaginable frost of the outside world. Harry meets Louis' eye first and his face breaks out in a  
giant grin, for no reason other than seeing Louis tended to bring that feat out of him most  
effectively. Louis gives him a smile of half the voltage and a shy wave. No other reason than Harry  
can be really sweet if he wanted to.

"Petal?" A new voice was to his right, lowered to his ear and that _can't be Gerard._  
Edward is sitting next to the water bath, his possessive hand on Louis' calf as his fingers operate  
small massages on the stiff muscle. It's his fully functional leg and thankfully Louis is able to retract  
it.

"Oh petal." Edward didn't manoeuvre Louis in any way, instead bringing himself closer to the boy  
and placing his ear over the rapid _thump-thump-thump_ of Louis' heart. "Forgive me."

It's moments like these Louis forgets entirely what went wrong in the first place. _Oh yes_,  
Edward woke up in the kind of mood that turned him cold and detached. Last night - or very early  
this morning - meant a lot to Louis, and he didn't appreciate everything being so simply discarded.  
Harry seems to have left the room, and taken Gerard with him. Louis can't see anything past  
Edward because his body is frozen and incapable of surpassing the man.

"I....I don't have a decent reason but you don't deserve excuses. The truth is, petal, that-" Edward  
connects their lines of vision and it's too electric to allow for Louis looking away. "-my world seems  
to end with you and it's so much broader in some ways, but smaller in others."

Louis stammers over something to respond with. _What?_ "Edward-"

"I don't love you, petal." He stated as if that's what Louis was going to say, which it was. "I don't  
love you but I can see myself loving you."

Louis _did not_ sign up to be a psychologist in training for this case of affairs. "I don't know  
what I'm supposed to be saying."

"You're not obligated." Edward says. "I can go on this way from the cradle to the grave."  
"What?"

"Or in meek current terms-" Edward turned his head and his cold lips met with Louis' bandage over  
his neck. "-I'd wait for you."

Louis felt like he was floating. Not floating in a way that was entirely pleasurable, floating in a way  
that made him want to get the Hell away. His mother died in front of him, murdered in cold blood,  
and this man is pouncing on him emotionally. He plans to not entertain these thoughts until way,  
way after all is settled.

"I can't do this now, Edward." Louis resists all the contact he had with Edward. "Please just-"

"Of course." Edward nodded, understanding.

"Edward, what you did yesterday......-"

"With the beds?"

"Yes." Louis could trace the lines of muscle _with his tongue_ given how close they were. "Is  
this.....why you did it?"

"Wasn't that clear?"

"Abundantly."

Louis smiled weakly, spoke weakly as he touched Edward's shoulderblade. His hand felt tiny on the  
man's exterior. He didn't focus on that for long before Edward asked him something new.  
"Why do you want to go to the hospital, petal? Harry told me you do." Edward started, sitting up  
and helping Louis do the same.

Having been busy removing his foot from the ice bath and keeping any excess moisture from  
dampening the expensive couch, Louis only looked up after the process was complete. His face was  
convincingly close to Edward's.

"I have to go do this." Louis tells him in a voice below a whisper. "_This_ is my obligation."  
Louis is more thrilled than he'd like to admit when Harry returns with a cordless phone in his hand,  
wielding it like a secret weapon. Louis pulls himself away from Edward. The seed planted of the  
conversation the man wants to have is repulsive at a time like this. Louis just wants to go  
_home._

"Gerard said you asked for this." Harry held out the Panasonic device. "What for?"

Edward is staring at him and Louis can't shake the chills building a headquarters in his nervous  
system. "F-For Niall."

"Okay."

Harry takes the ice and all its associates away to be rid of, while Louis dials the memorised number  
as hastily as his fingers will allow. A paler, bonier hand comes over his during the dial tone.

"Don't leave." Is all Edward says before getting up and leaving, never a glance back.

The shudder to his core makes Louis want to throw something at Edward's retreating back.

Something unharmful but will get his point across anyway. He's hardly positive on what his point is  
anyway. He wants to shout _'Why don't you just find me mediocre and leave me alone?!'_ but  
there's no voice in his throat.

Someone is shouting however, and Louis realises that he left a call to Niall unanswered in his hand.  
He lifts the receiver to his ear with both hands. "N-Niall?"

His best friend erupts into a wail of relief. "Lou?! Lou, are you okay?"

"I'm fine." Louis picks at his pants threads. "I um....- Did you hear?"

"I was there, Lou." Niall has some shuffling in the background that he stops to continue. "I couldn't  
find you."

"Yeah, I know. I'm uh- coming to the hospital today to....see her and maybe call Dad? I don't know  
but can you-"

"I'll be there. I promise. Twenty-five minutes, okay?"

"Thanks, Ni."

"Where are you, Lou?"

Louis looks around himself guiltily and knows he has to hang up now. "I'll see you soon, Ni."

* * * * *

"You're taking him to the hospital?" Gemma asked Edward as her brother stood in her way while  
she tried to unpack her two bags.

"He asked me to." Edward follows her with his eyes, impassive and hooded to reveal nothing.

"No." She laments. "Harry asked you."

Edward sighs. "I wasn't fair to Louis this morning so I didn't expect him to ask me."

"What does 'fair' mean in this context?"

"I ignored him."

Gemma giggles, bypassing him in favour of her hair brush of tie. "How charming."  
"I didn't come here to be ridiculed."

"Sorry, brother." She tied her hair up in a skilfully positioned bun. "You came for advice?"

"I don't know who else to ask."

"Of course you do, but you're too mad about him to ask."

Edward stays silent and unmoving, gaze uplifting and frown deepening at his sister's words. He  
loved her, it is no mistake that he'd easily give anything for her, but she inherited an excessive  
amount of the Styles arrogance. What he and Harry had in fractions, she stocked up on.

"Leave him alone, I say." She finally speaks, making unimportant hand gestures. "Let him grieve  
and mourn and don't get in the bloody way."

"How-"

"He's not like us, Edward." Her mood switches from understanding and honest to harsh and  
annoyed. "Why you can't see that is beyond me. Don't expect anything from him."

* * * * *

Hospitals have been the subjects of Louis' consistent nightmares as a child for as long as he's  
allowed to remember. Them, and the occasional freelance clown running at him with an axe.  
Harry was being supportive even if he didn't entirely comprehend why or the proper way of doing  
so. He held Louis' hand and glowered at the nurses who had to take Louis away for inspection of his  
knee. Edward stayed back in the waiting room of the ER, making everyone stare and just to piss  
someone off would wink at a little girl.

"Your ankle should take five days to heal." His doctor told Louis, scribbling a prescription for  
painkillers down. "Don't walk on it and ice it everyday at least thrice. We will wrap it up nice and  
tight because compression helps with the swelling."

Louis listens to every word and nods at the end. Harry stood at the door, leaning against the sick  
white wall with his arms crossed. Niall hasn't shown up yet and Louis didn't try calling him again. If  
he didn't want to come, he shouldn't have to.

"These are your pills." The doctor hands him a blue slip. "Take them according to their instructions  
of use."

"Thank you." Louis isn't allowed to move yet and he's greatly unnerved by Harry locking the door  
after his doctor leaves. "Harry?"

"The police are coming to take your statement." Harry has turned into some type of serious-all-thetime man   
with dark eyes and a gun in his back pocket. "What do you know?"

Louis realises just then what all of this meant. They were taking care of him to make sure he didn't  
say anything? That can't be. He didn't even see what they could have done!

"I-I....-" Niall's blond quiff appears on the other side of the door, but Harry steps in front of him. "I  
don't know, Harry!"

"What did you see beyond our arrival?" Harry insisted.

Louis' headache was returning and he could hardly think without a pained cry wanting to rip  
through him. "Nothing! I saw nothing."

Harry was hovering over him when Louis opened his eyes, a chain hanging between them. Louis  
gasped from the position and Harry smothered it with a kiss.

"That's what you'll tell them." Harry kissed his lips and his forehead. "Sorry, my petal."

He tries to soothe the boy's shaking first by murmuring _such sweet_ things in his ear. His  
thumb brushes over Louis' jawline and earlobe, lips roaming the path of hollow cheeks.

"I just can't let them take me away from you." He explained, sounding like he was speaking through  
sobs too. "Not when I'm redeeming myself."

Louis starts to breathe slower and not feel like every ounce of blood within him will explode from  
their mediums. He absentmindedly grips Harry's turquoise sleeve while listening, slipping deeper  
and deeper into something muddled but promising.

"Don't ever be afraid of me." Harry pulled the thin covering over Louis until his waist as he stood,  
getting the boy to release his shirt. "I'll come right back for you, petal. Ten minutes, okay?"

Louis looks at him and nods, before turning around at the sound of boots hitting tile. Harry leaves  
Louis as soon as Niall threatens to call the police even faster.

"Louis?" Niall steps into the room before Harry can exit, shutting the door with finesse after the  
man. "You okay, Lou?"

"More or less." Louis cracks a smile that lacks any joy, making room on the hospital bed for his  
friend to sit.

Niall goes for the jackpot and just crawls onto the mattress with Louis, throwing an arm over his  
mate and slinging the other one under Louis' head to rest on. "I'm so sorry."

Louis shakes his head and defeats his tears' mission to make themselves known. "It's okay."

"No. No, Lou. It isn't." Niall strokes Louis' hair the way Louis would do for him after a tough day.  
"It wasn't _okay_ for me to leave you."

"You couldn't have known." Louis grabs a tissue from the small table under the window and wipes  
his nose

At least Niall can sleep a little easier with that reason, but definitely not entirely. He sighed and  
ignored the scowl of a female nurse as she walked in to wrap Louis' ankle.

"You're not allowed on the patient's bed, Mr. Horan." She said clearly, tying up and taping down the  
loose end of the gauze.

"Five more minutes, Gracie."

She left without another word and made sure a door-stopper was keeping the door from closing.  
"You know the nurses by their first name?" Louis blinks, surprised by his friend.

"Took a guess." Niall admits, his mood suddenly disintegrating. "Where were you, Lou?"

Sighing, Louis holds onto the railing as he gets himself up. "You know where I was, Ni."

"You were really _with them_?" Niall all but screeches with a sudden skyrocket in his pitch.  
"Yes."

"Louis!"

Louis' headache was enough at the expense of his health that the blood vessels in his brain turned to  
over-stretched leaking pipes and shook selfishly against the fine membrane.

"Please don't yell." Louis whimpered, the bright lights playing simultaneously with the buzz, flicker  
and beep of every piece of present machinery is cruel.

"What were you doing with them, Louis?" Niall changed his tone but didn't lower the volume.  
"He said-" Spoke an icy third voice. "-don't yell."

Louis didn't have to turn or even sneakily glance to know it was Harry. The man had a dismal  
higher pitch, risen by a smidgen in comparison to Edward's throaty command. He covered his face  
with his arm and felt Niall slide off the bed.

"Fucking creep." Niall muttered. "Can you wait outside?"

"Niall." Louis warned slowly.

Niall simply repeated himself. "Can you wait outside?"

"No." Harry barked, arms crossed and the wrist-long sleeve of his shirt continued to strain against  
the expansion of his muscle. "The police are waiting, petal."

"What the fuck is petal?"

Harry ignored him. Louis answered. "I'm okay to talk to them."

"They call you fucking petal?"

"Yes, Ni." Louis snaps. "Me. I'm petal. Please stop _shouting._"

The police walked in on this scene as soon as Harry walked out, feeling relaxed even if two best  
friends were at heads because the psycho was absent. All else, they could handle. Three officers  
walked in and one face Louis all too well.

"Liam?" Louis couldn't bring himself to rest back against the pillows, and so sat with a noticeable  
hunch.

"Hey, Lou." Liam, in black jeans and a grey plaid shirt smiled for none of what he's worth.  
The other two present where stocky and local police officers. Liam carried the clipboard for Louis'  
statement and he stood with the highest rank from amongst them.  
"We're here for-"

"I know." Louis didn't want to hear it again. "Can I see my mother afterwards?"  
"We'll take you to her later, yes."

"I'd appreciate it." Louis nods and smiles politely "Niall, can I use your phone please?"  
"We'd like to get this statement out of the way, Lou." Liam raises his hand to stop Niall from  
rendering free the device from his pockets.

"My statement's not going to change in the five minutes it takes to call my father, Detective." Louis  
monotonously points out.

Liam takes a deep breath and releases it with a clap to the side of his clipboard. "Fine. Yeah."

Niall is lost to his rage for Louis' poorly prioritised decisions and silly choices, but he hands over  
his iPhone anyway. Louis thinks he can remember the office number for his dad and dials as soon as  
he's given privacy by all except the owner of the phone.

"Are you really calling him or was that a ruse?" Niall hikes his knee up and under the other one.

"I'm really calling." Louis holds the ringing speaker up to his ear with one hand, all fingers.  
"AT & Co. How can I help?" A very formal, pleasantly formal voice picks up his call.

"I'm Louis Tomlinson. Is my dad around?" He answers, out of reflex looking up at the window.  
"Hey, Lou! It's been....what? Three years since I last heard from you." It's Precious, an AfricanAmerican  
woman who Louis got to know since the day his mother went into labour.

The sound of her voice brings a smile to his face. It and her reminds him of an easier time and series  
of phases in his life when he had an exceptional support system.

"Sorry, Pre." He hugs his middle with his free arm. "I've been busy down here."

"Yeah. Yeah I heard." The lilt to her voice always got more pronounced when she was experiencing  
a personal emotion. 

"What did you hear?" Louis brings his thumb up to his lips.

"Your Dad orders the Middleston paper every day and it arrives at the end of the week." She  
explained in a hushed, secretive voice. "He knows all about those twins and your neck. Your  
_neck_, Lou. How are you feeling?"

"Fine. Fine, I promise. Is he....doing something about it?"

"He's keeping tabs but he's been waiting for your phone call."

"Pre?"

"Yeah, Lou?"

Louis blinks away the itch in his right eye, exaggerated by the swelling of tear glands. "Mo-Mother's dead."

The line goes dead for a whole minute, but it feels like Precious is silent for an entire decade.  
_"Lou."_ Precious sucks her air intake suddenly that a whistling side product is audible.  
"When, Lou?"

"That's why I'm calling for Dad." Louis hides his unstable wobbling lips behind the piques of his  
knees.

"He's going to insist you come home. That place isn't good for you anymore."

"I have a job here, Pre. A paying one. A-A....-" He finds it harder now than ever before to speak  
with a clogged throat. "An apartment."

"You don't wanna go back there, baby." She says kindly, in a sweet and sympathetic voice. "He's  
just come out of a meeting so I'll cancel his next appointment and transfer you."

"No, Pre. If he's busy-"

"You're his son, Louis. He's not going to be too busy for his son."

Thirty short seconds later Pre's voice is shut out by the relaxing hum of a chime that sounded  
whenever a call was being transferred via switchboard. Louis looked at Niall and found his best  
friend staring at him as if meeting him for the first time. He can't keep up the contact and turns  
away quickly.

"Louis?" Comes the voice on the other end of the call, gruff but respectable and perfect in curved  
pronunciation. "Is that you?"

"It's me, Dad." He grinds the flat heads of his teeth together, the meshing system not being flawless.  
"Hi."

In his office across the continent, Mark Austin Tomlinson unbuttons the clips of his jacket and sits  
down. "How are you keeping?"

Louis breaks down witlessly and pathetically. "Mom's dead, Dad."

"What?" Mark is standing again, back to the door. "Louis, explain yourself."  
"I didn't kill her!"

"That's not what I'm saying, boy. Calm down, take some breaths." He waits, walking to his office  
door to lock it. "Now tell me."

"N-Not over the phone." Louis can't say the story. He physically _cannot_ bring his tongue to  
cooperate without loss of some mental capacity.

"I'll catch the next flight out to see you then." Mark is already tapping away at his keyboard, finding  
the soonest booking.

"Don't bring the girls." Louis balls himself up under the white blanket, his injured leg sticking out  
from underneath. "They...- I haven't seen them in s-so long and I don't want them.....you know, to-"

"I understand." Mark is nodding, unconventionally thrown at his son's distraught behaviour. "I won't  
bring them."

Louis looks up at the sound of newcomers, and adjust the cellphone between his ear and the pillow.  
He's met with the breathtaking sight of authority moving aside to let Harry and Edward into his  
room, the second ahead of the first.

"Thank you." Louis returns to the conversation with his father.

Mark decides something in the moment of hearing Louis' - his first born regardless of gender -  
voice shake. "When I get there, Lou, I want your bags packed. Over my dead body are you staying  
in that fuckin' town any longer."

Hearing those words from his father at the same moment save him from sparing the energy to ask.  
Edward merely spares Louis a glance before letting Harry step forward. The action gets Louis to  
decide with finality and look away too.

"Lou?" Mark tries to get a promise from his son. None of his family is going to remain in a town as  
awful as Middleston. "You'll come home with me?"

"Yeah. Yeah, I'll come home."


	15. Chapter Fifteenth

**"Lou?" Mark tries to get a promise from his son. None of his family is going to remain in a  
town as awful as Middleston. "You'll come home with me?"**

**"Yeah. Yeah, I'll come home."**

***NARRATOR'S POV***  
Louis had said it softly enough and to the underside of his palm so that no one else got to hear the  
plot. The hospital room was outstandingly silent as everyone did try to eavesdrop on his  
conversation, but luckily to no avail. He couldn't have anyone know his plans, maybe Niall but not  
at this time.

"I'll be there as soon as I can, okay?" His father told him, a promise hidden by his careful wording.  
"Okay. Bye, Dad." Louis studies the fabric of his sheets and cotton-covered mattress with his  
fingers.

"Bye Lou." His father hangs up and Louis wishes he hadn't, wanting a bit more time to be distracted  
from what still needed to be taken care of.

The twins were standing unaffected and expressionless at the door, Harry keeping himself a small  
quantity of two steps away from Louis' bed. Edward was staring at Louis when the boy glanced his  
way, failing to pass him by entirely.

Something was entirely _off_ with Edward today and Louis couldn't put his finger on it. His  
greatest outcry of today was that he had to have Edward walk into this room and ignore him, before  
agreeing to go home. The irony was puzzling.

Niall sighed and scratched lightly at the damp skin of his forehead, pushing his hair back and  
getting up on his feet. He was worked up to a serious state and didn't see himself recovering the  
ounce of respect he had for this town.

"Oh for fuck's sake." He mutters, rigid as a plank and full of total rejection towards the twins.

Edward looks to be completely unaffected, while his brother was blatantly miffed by Niall's  
disrespect. The tension turns to the thickest state of tangibility, hanging in the air while Louis  
looked up, first at Niall and handed back the phone.

Louis spoke purposefully to Niall. "I'm um....ready to give them my statement."

* * * * *

After Liam took his clipboard with him out to discuss matters with his two companions, Louis  
closes his eyes. Maybe if they stay closed for long enough, he'll discover that this life is just a  
nightmare. Harry and Edward did not leave the room, despite being told to, during Louis' statement.  
They stayed back at the closed doorway and heard every morsel of information he gave up. 

Niall stood on the other side of Louis' legs, glaring at everything that breathed. He's got the right to  
be as mad as he is. "What did your father say?"

Louis nervously glances at the twins, finds them also awaiting his response, and sighs. "He's  
coming as soon as he can."

"Yeah?" Niall crosses his arms, although it doesn't make it to be as intimidating as two particular  
people Louis knows. "That's good."

Nodding, Louis avoids eye contact with absolutely anyone. There's an uneasy stillness lining the  
walls and exits of this space, compressing the individuals present until they simply fall off their  
rocker themselves. The temptation of succumbing to the predator and pray system of functioning,  
where the demons in one's head ruled everything, was a strong case.

"Yeah." Is all Louis manages to push out, and he hates it.

"Liam needs me." Niall says, patting his pockets before walking out of the room.

No harm comes to Louis' best friend while he passes by the twins, both sets of eyes following him  
out just to make sure he's gone. Harry notices the door-stopper and shows it to Edward. His brother  
nods and says nothing, following in Niall's path to leave the room too. Louis grinds his teeth at the  
man's new attitude towards him. It was definitely the best decision he ever made to leave.

"Hey, petal." Harry takes a seat on Louis' bed, his hand landing gingerly on Louis' knee.

Louis looks at him with indignation. "Hi."

The slightly noticeable bob of Harry's head as he nods could be likened to the rhythm of a Jamaican  
song. "Edward's not doing this on purpose."

"Oh?" Louis doesn't really care. He's getting out of this town as soon as his father says the word.

"Yes. He's very fond of you."

"I'm sure he is."

"Louis." Harry's disapproval of Louis' tone is a new shade in the collection of his easy-to-flip  
moods.

"I want to be alone, Harry." Louis turns away from him with heavy eyelids and an absent  
knowledge of why he's suddenly so tired. "Please."

Harry's hand removes itself and Louis feels the bed being enlightened from his weight. That is, until  
he hears the click of boots not getting any softer and he curls in on himself to hide, to protect his  
chest cavity where his heart struggled to deliver a pulse.

"Are you going to sleep?" Harry's voice is uncomfortably close to his ear once again, and Louis is  
burdened by the man sharing a bed with him when he wants anything else.

"Yes." Louis croaks, throat dry and head throbbing. 

"Okay." Harry kisses his shoulder. The touch is so sweet that Louis can almost hate it, but he  
motivates himself to let happen what may. "I'll be here, petal."

Louis convinces himself that Harry being here is better than his marvellously unsupportive and  
critical friend. He knew Niall was right but _dammit it wasn't fair_. Louis didn't have a choice!  
He felt Harry shuffle behind him, against his back. He doesn't feel any pain from his ankle because  
Harry positioned it such that it wasn't in harm's way.

"Harry?"

The man makes a pleased little sound and kisses Louis' neck. His lips don't burn on the boy's skin  
for the first time. "Yes, darlin'?"

Louis is about to confess it all, but something stops him at the very last second. He has to keep his  
mouth from formulating the words that are biting at the edge of his tongue, daring to cause a riot by  
spilling out. He sucks in a cold and deep breath, letting the inhaled feeling of ice settle in his gut.

"Petal?" Harry notices the break in his conversation, and shifts slightly to get closer.

Louis pretended to be asleep, shutting his heavy eyelids and breathing through his nose. Forcing  
himself to take in only so much air in this act got to be painful at a point, and he had to open his  
mouth just a bit to help out. He probably owes another day of his living history to that smart move.

* * * * *

"Malik." Zayn answers his cellphone the way he always does when he's preoccupied. It's work,  
always is work keeping his attention away from relationships and social potential.

"Hey, sweetheart." Liam has to turn away from the two officers who resemble helpless, guideless  
puppies more than officials who guard a town.

"Fuck right off, Payne." Zayn drops the witness report in his left hand, biting on the cap of his  
Pentel pen.

Their relationship was as casual now as it has always been. Liam and Zayn never sought solace and  
comfort in each other's arms the way couples do, but more often than not they found the necessary  
relaxation their naked bodies provided.

"I need you, Zee." Liam pinches his nose over to tough cartilage and sighs at the ground.

"Um....-" Zayn glances at his watch. "I have to work until-"

"No, not sex." Liam combs his hair back and tries to blink away the burn of his tired eyelids. "How  
far are you from Middleston?"

Zayn had been sorting through case files and affidavits. He stops for a moment. "Middle-what?"  
"Middleston." Liam repeats, looking around him and over his shoulder.

"Didn't that guy from uni and-"

"Yeah, the same place."

"Quit cutting me off, you fucker."

"Sorry. So how far?"

"Been moved out for a case maybe an hour or less away. Are you trouble, Li?"

"Not me. That kid from uni."

"What the fuck? Do I expect a reunion when I get down there?"

"No, Zee. Just......get _down here_ as soon as you can." Liam notices Niall leaving Louis'

room and the twins going in. "Something is extra fucked up in this town."

* * * * *

Mark deboards the flight, Emirates 627, without holding back for the luggage carousel to come  
around. He hardly packed his _briefcase_ before getting on the plane to take him to his son.  
After hearing the voice of his son over the telephone, so vulnerable and so in need of his help, Mark  
couldn't help but throw his day's work away for an emergency visit. Louis was always such an  
ambitious young lad and ready to take on whatever challenge whoever the Hell threw at him. He  
didn't _deserve_ to sound so.....so _shattered_.

Mark made his way out of the tiniest airport terminals he's been under the roof of, grabbing the first  
lime green local cab that came to a stop outside the main entrance. The driver is smoking a tobacco  
cigar with the resulting grey puffs circling around the confines of the vehicle.

"Middleston General Hospital." He barked at the insolent individual, tapping away a final email on  
his iPad before the battery is drained.

"Yes, Sir." The driver with untended facial hair sets his cigar down and hits the accelerator with the  
clink of his worker's boot.

Their cab takes a slippery swerve when it rounds the corner, Mark sliding across the leather of his  
seat until he's behind the driver rather than the passenger side. He glares at the man in charge  
through the rear view mirror.

"Drive decently and drive faster." He says curtly, eyes not lingering on the reflective surface.  
The roads are slippery and the storm of a century is due to pass at any given moment, but that's not  
all that threatens to keep Mark from ever reaching the hospital and his son.

* * * * *

At the intersection between twelfth and fifteenth street, Zayn's GMC Terrain parks before the stop  
instruction painted on the black cobble street. He uses the small break in driving to gulp down some  
coffee from the Starbucks travel mug he carried. It's his fourth cup and his head is starting to be as  
drained as every other part of him.

Working sleepless nights at the office working on thirty consecutive cases in just his first two years  
of being a full fledged police investigator. He looks up and the light hanging above from telephone  
wires and other insulated cables indicate green.

Mark hasn't looked up from the screen of his iPhone since he hopped in the cab, dialling and  
redialing Louis' number but only receiving voicemail. He sighs and unbuttons the jacket of his suit,  
checking for his wallet and other phone again. The light eventually turns green after a forty second  
wait at this intersection with foggy windows and the patter of rain surrounding him.

His driver's cigar is not put out and it's too late to just open the window so the smoke escapes easily.  
The man at the wheel does anyway, and in that time wasted during a green light fails to see an  
approaching vehicle in the next lane. He applies the gas and jerks forward, the wet road causing him  
to slide over into the headlights of a GMC Terrain.

* * * * *

"Trauma!" The nurse over the PA system calls out loud and clear. "Dr. Reilly, Dr. Gallecki and Dr.  
Parsons to the emergency room!"

The list of names of medical professionals rages on, changing in accents and urgency as different  
nurses summon those on break after quarter day shifts. Liam turns around from watching Niall  
figure out the vending machine, frowning as he pulls them both out of the way.

"What's going on?" Niall hands him a lidded cup of coffee and packet of generic Oreos.

"Don't know." Liam shakes his head at the God awful coffee and cracks open the packet of cookies.  
Edward stood not too far away from them, his extraordinary hearing allowing him to hear from their  
conversation what he needed. Instead of waiting for the answer to arrive, he stopped a bustling  
nurse in her tracks.

"What's happened?" He asks, fluent and unwilling to repeat himself to the middle-aged woman.

"Car accident at the nearby intersection." She tells him, barely registering who it is she's speaking to  
before hurrying along again.

Edward shares a look with Liam over the width of the hallway, one with connotations neither really  
grasped. When Liam was about to step forward to ask about what he heard - because he's a bloody  
detective and shouldn't be afraid of Edward - his target disappears after the passing of a gurney.  
Liam searches for him, coffee cup and puzzled Niall forgotten temporarily, but Edward is really  
gone. Was he even standing there originally?

* * * * *

"Petal."

Louis doesn't feel a physical touch nudging him out of his dreams where Middleston was an ant  
under his boot rather than a town he can't escape, but the voice is firm enough. He tries hiding from  
it for a bleak moment, blocking his face behind the arm of the dozing Harry giant behind him.  
It didn't work. "Wake up, petal."

The arm Louis used as salvation is being extracted and he's left exposed to the cold hospital air. He  
opens his eye and sees Edward, looking as pleasing to the sore eye as he always does. Stark white  
hair that in the right amount of lighting looked golden, eyes hooded by the shadow of his emotions.  
"I have something to show you." Edward extends his hand towards Louis.

Louis flinches when the tips of Edward's fingers brush his arm. "I don't want to see it."

Edward tilts his head to the side in his curious puppy mirage. "It concerns you."

"I don't care."

"Your father is here, petal. Don't you want to see him?" The oblique stare that withheld the reason  
why Edward was doing this, is unnerving Louis the longer it stays on him.

Louis is more willing to move after that enlightenment, but still insists on crutches rather Edward's  
help moving around. He grabs some sweatpants off the table and slips them on whilst seated, almost  
tipping himself over when he leans too far forward.

Edward is patient, waiting by the door with his eyes burning holes on Louis' back. How could he  
ever neglect a person of embodied perfection? Gemma seems to think he possesses the willpower to  
do so.

The crutches are a challenge for all challengers. Louis struggles with them sans any help for two  
and a half minutes before he can so much as reach the door. Edward looks him up and down with an  
unreadable expression, fingers curling in his pockets.

_To Hell with his sister._

He grabs Louis' hip with one hand and drops the crutches with the other. They land with a loud and  
heavy clutter, heavy and expensive medical aid instruments how cracking the tile. The neglect gets  
Louis to shout but Edward covers it with his hand. Harry doesn't shift in his sleep.

"Shh, sweet petal." Edward lowers himself and picks Louis up in a swift bridal carry. "I've treated  
you badly enough already."

Louis tries to break free - as seems to be a tradition now - but the lock-down of Edward's arms don't  
relent even when they're passing people they know in the corridor.

"What are you- Edward!" Louis squirms and almost drops himself when he takes shoving the man's  
chest too far. 

Edward growls in obvious displeasure - his petal is bordering on irresponsible - and pulls him into  
the next empty turn-off. It's a small and dark hallway but the wall is all he needs, pressing Louis up  
against it and caging him in.

"What's the _matter_, petal?" He asks in a brusque and forceful manner.

"Put me down, Edward." Louis couldn't control the injured leg because every small movement and  
pressure hurt, so Edward held his thigh up against his hip.

But Edward saw through that. There was something pained in Louis' eyes and he knows he put it  
there. "I'm sorry, petal."

"For what?" Louis glowered.

Edward can't be called a criminal for succumbing to the _need_ to be burrowed in Louis' soft,  
warm neck. His pulse was against the man's cheek and his goosebumps ran free.

"For my behaviour." Edward opens his mouth to speak, the wetness dampening Louis' shoulder. "I  
took the wrong advice but I am a man of desire, petal. I can't stay away from you."

_Really, is Harry the only bipolar twin?_

Louis' chest starts to heave as breathing becomes  
difficult. He whimpers at the contact of hot skin on warm skin, his fingers gripping the fabric of a  
shirt he should hate. He can only let Edward press their foreheads together and kiss the tip of his  
nose.

"Your father." Edward suddenly remembers. "Come, petal."

Liam and Niall are no longer part of the crowd in the hospital's passageway. Louis searches for  
them in the small break room as he passes the door, then the space outside the bathrooms. He  
frowns as Edward takes him further away from his own room and towards the waiting room outside  
the ER.

"Edward?" Louis tries to understand but Edward shakes his head and pushes through the double  
doors.

The emergency room is alive, as when a home is established hundreds of years ago it develops a  
life. People - doctors - are working feverishly to take care of, operate on and sedate those who were  
involved in the car crash not too far away from here. Three victims, one dead.

"Louis Tomlinson?" A doctor in white scrubs, clean of blood but he seems to be the only one.

"That's me." Louis waits to be put down but the doctor seems to understand when he isn't.

"Your father is Mark Tomlinson?" His name tag reads Dr. Stewart and he looks uncharacteristically  
energetic with puppy dog brown eyes and untidy hair.

Louis takes a sharp and freezing breath. "Yes."

"He was involved in a pile up just two blocks from here." The doctor fails to slow down and let the  
blood gushing through Louis' arteries stop from hurting him. "He was severely injured and we  
managed to stop any fatal internal bleeding."

_His father._

Louis can't lose his dad, that's all he's got left to rely two hundred percent on. He  
can't hear this but he has to.

"Mr. Tomlinson is in a coma." Dr. Stewart taps his clipboard and offers Louis a sympathetic smile.  
"We'll have to keep him here in Middleston until he's stable enough to wake up."


	16. Chapter Sixteen

**"Mr. Tomlinson is in a coma." Dr. Stewart taps his clipboard and offers Louis a sympathetic  
smile. "We'll have to keep him here in Middleston until he's stable enough to wake up."**

***NARRATOR'S POV***

"Petal, calm down."

Edward held Louis the only way he seemed to know how. He knew how to handle many things, but  
he knew how to do very few things properly, and this was one of those things.

Louis was breaking apart in his arms, weeping the way he shouldn't in the hospital waiting area that  
was slowly filling up. Edward was uncomfortable here but when he tried to move Louis wouldn't let  
him. He sighed irritably and ran his hand through Louis' hair, straightening out the knots and curls.  
After his heaving fit of throttling and troubling sobs ebb away into soft sniffles, Louis takes solace  
in the warm pulse of Edward's neck. He doesn't have the energy or the willingness to pick on who it  
is exactly who's holding him.

"Better now, darlin'?" Edward gets up off the chair and carries Louis with him away from the  
developing crowd.

The hospital is building up a swarm of attention for themselves, local media for news coverage due  
to the accident. One of the world's biggest CEO's was involved in a car accident and nobody outside  
this town will ever find out because no one and nothing gets out of Middleston.

Louis has a splitting headache and shakes his head when he's offered the chance to visit his father.  
He's not ready for that yet, because he wants to be able to walk in there and walk out on his own.

"Edward?" Louis didn't want to go into his own room yet, didn't want to face the whirlwind of  
questions that would undoubtedly accompany Harry.

"Yes?" The man shoves open the heavy door blocking him from Louis' wing of the hospital.  
"Can you reassure me?"

Edward stops walking and almost causes a nurse to knock over her cart of supper meals for the  
recovering patients. She moves around him but not without a glare thrown his way, then easily  
swallowed after she sees his face.

"What type of reassurance would you like, petal?" Edward took a step forward, tentative as he's  
forgotten where he was going.

"Can we sit over there please?" Louis points to a vacant row of cushioned chairs drilled to the  
ground and wall.

Edward doesn't seem to have capacity to conjure up a reason not to, so he grunts his consent and  
makes his way over there. Louis gets his own seat and Edward sits beside him, eyes on everything  
else. Their awkwardness seems to become palpable because there's never been a scenario where  
they simply sat together. 

"Tell me my dad's going to be okay." Louis has fingers laced together over his thighs, his watery  
eyes watching his thumbs go back and forth.

Edward's head snaps in his direction. He's thoroughly at a loss for words with this boy. How  
unarmed and uneducated he feels whenever Louis said something so....._simple_ to him.

"Please." Louis peers through the corner of his eye at his present companion without turning his  
head.

The nurses and doctors, surgeons and specialists were racing around trying to save lives and give  
hope. What did Edward have to lose?

"He's going to be....just _fine_, petal." Edward adds dramatis to his words by reaching over  
and grasping Louis' hand.

"Yeah?" Louis finally spares him a glance and Edward can hardly _breathe_ with those  
magnificent blue eyes staring at him like he's worth a damn good thing in this world.  
"Of course." Edward manages to shove out, almost wishing that he sounded half as much corrupt as  
he was inside. "Of course, petal."

Louis smiled at him and Edward gave the boy a forehead kiss, breathing in deeply when he was  
close enough. Louis was so precious to him, with or without reciprocation.

"We should go back." Louis withdraws and wipes his nose on a deteriorated tissue from Dr. Stewart.

"You can't possibly be in need of sleep again, petal." Edward's light humour gets Louis' mouth to  
twitch.

"We can.....-" Louis bites his wet lip and tastes the salty aftermath of his tears. "Can we go to the  
cafeteria?"

Edward thinks about where the cafeteria is and how long it will take to get them there. "Sounds like  
a plan, petal."

The cafeteria is the least delightful place one wants to go when trying to lift the dribs and drabs of  
your spirits up from six feet under. It is, unfortunately, all the choice Louis has until he's discharged  
from here with a certificate of aftercare.

They have to pay for everything they order but Louis isn't allowed to argue because Edward seats  
him at a table and goes to get a tray of food. He returns with a small carton of chocolate milk, a  
sealed serving of pasta salad and another of a colourful sandwich.

"Who's the chocolate milk for?" Louis uses the serviette Edward brings to wipe his eyes and nose  
rather than his hands.

"I've been a chocolate milk enthusiast for fourteen years, petal."

Louis' eyes grow wide as Edward's stay solemn with dead seriousness. "Really?"

"No, petal. The chocolate milk is for you."

Louis laughs before he can register that he is and refrain from doing so. He covers his mouth with  
his hand and Edward observes that even with his eyes so tired and skin dry, every inch of the boy in  
front of him remained all that Edward wanted from a world that hated him.

"Thank you." Louis says gratefully, taking the carton and jabbing the short straw through the silver  
tab. "Have you....been a pasta salad enthusiast at any point in your childhood?"

Edward stares at him for the greater portion of a minute, making Louis turn away first. "No, petal."

Louis' second smile is brief and quickly fades as he picks up the plastic container. He uses the black  
plastic fork to poke at the food, seeking his appetite, while Edward watches him in disdain.

"You have to eat." Edward tells him after a while, meeting Louis' eye. "I will not allow you to get  
any thinner than you are now."

Glancing down self consciously, Louis frowns and gathers that he'll never be able to eat after today.  
He pushes the food away and Edward catches his wrist.

"I'm not asking, petal." Edward slides the container back into Louis' perimeter. "Eat."

Louis tries taking his wrist back but he'll walk to the moon before that happens. 

He speaks quietly. "I'm not hungry."

"Irrelevant." Edward nearly stops all blood flow in his arm when he tightens his grip, then releases  
him altogether. "Eat or I will feed you, petal."

It's enough motivation to _try_ as Louis likes to eat in small bites, and won't appreciate food  
being shovelled down his throat. He stabs a cold pasta piece with mystery white sauce and sliced  
pepper, bringing it to his lips and chewing slowly.

"It's not fair that you're not eating." Louis says to Edward, gesturing to the neglected sandwich.

"That's also yours." Edward replies casually.

"I can't eat all of this, Edward." Louis protests with a slump in his shoulders and more pasta on his  
fork.

With an overly confident smirk, Edward pushes his hair back into line. "You will."

Sighing, Louis feeds himself more pasta that's relaxing to his clogged throat after he chews and  
drinks some cold chocolate milk. He sets his elbows on the steel table before speaking again,  
sounding shaky just to himself.

"Why were you so....cold with me this morning?" He imagines that if he has just this one answer  
then one of today's mysteries will be extinguished.

Edward tries to avoid Louis' eye line but the boy just to keep his attention directed at him with no  
intention of prying, and Edward finds himself looking back. Those wide and gorgeous sources of  
blue light were brimming and swimming in explicably intricate emotions of a raw and less teenage  
nature. 

"I took the wrong advice." Edward repeats his reason from earlier, breathing out in a rush.

"What does that mean?" Louis has successfully eaten half of his pasta salad, his hunger steadily  
increasing.

"It means I wasted time doing something I'd like to take back."

Nodding, Louis lowers his gaze back to his food. He begins the search for chicken pieces amongst  
the pasta and peppers. Edward sighs dejectedly and Louis watches from behind his hair that's  
blocking his view somewhat, as the man's hand gets closer to his. At the end of the brief journey,  
Edward's hand slides into place with his over the table.

"I'm going to ask about what you plan to do after you leave here." Edward's nail, blunt and  
harmless, scrapes over the papery texture of Louis' knuckles.

"You mean-" Louis looks up, his fringe falling in his eyes. "-where will I stay?"

Edward's nod is hardly noticeable. He wants to make sure this is an appropriate time to ask, but he  
has no way of checking.

"I'll stay in a hotel." Louis scrapes the last of his pasta into his fork. "Niall is with Liam and I'm  
fairly certain he doesn't want to see me ever again."

"I don't know if that is true, petal."

"It is." Louis says curtly, regretting his tone immediately after. Something dawns on him. "How did  
you know my father was in the ER?"

The expression of arrogance that Louis hadn't seen on him since the Madhouse resurfaces. It's the  
look the richest Pharaoh had and the cruellest king that gave sanctity to the worst of the torture  
methodists. Louis hated it.

"I know everything, petal." Edward brings Louis' hand closer to him. The boy's elbow sits on the  
table with his fingers captured by Edward's. "Even the things you think I don't know."

When Edward said that, his eyes were focused so perfectly on the confines of Louis' eyes that they  
were unmistakable. Louis found himself frowning as he thought. Why did Edward have to speak in  
riddles sometimes? Could he possibly know something about Louis' plan to move away?

Upon returning his gaze to Edward's, there's a haunting look about him. It chills Louis' bones and  
ices the liquid blue that everyone got to see when he blinked. Something _told him_, real or  
not in the deepest vault of his subconscious, that Edward really did know everything.

"Oh." Louis let's Edward trace and outline the contours of his fingertips. "People believe only the  
Devil knows everything."

Edward chuckles, his pointy teeth peeking out against the near maroon shade of his sinful lips. "But  
_you_ don't believe that, petal."

* * * * *

"Fuck!" Liam's fist slams into the vending machine's glass, rattling the contents inside with his rage.

"What? What's wrong, Liam?" Niall pleads with him so he can be told something useful. He grabs  
Liam's bicep and turns his focus away from his splitting knuckles. "Fuckin' Hell. Tell me what's  
wrong, Liam!"

"Zayn!" A guttural sound leaves Liam's chest and throat, sounding hurt and restrained all at the  
same time.

"Who is Zayn, Liam?" Niall asks calmly, framing the man's face with both hands.

"I called him down here to help _me_." Liam's eyes turn stone cold and hateful, but Niall  
knows it's not aimed at him. "He shouldn't have been in that fucking crash!"

"Hey now." Niall steps a little bit closer, needing to look up more and more. "Louis' dad was also in  
that accident, Li."

Liam tips over the edge, his anger taking the reigns over from his self control. He grabs Niall's  
wrists and shoves him off. "Louis' father wasn't my _best friend_! Louis' father didn't put his  
_God damned life_ on the line for me!"

Niall is flung out a window of surprised as fuck when he's witness to Liam's lack of anger  
management. He wants to have that vending machine between them because he fears that could  
hold Liam back from throwing a punch or worse for a good amount of time. His heart pounds and  
his pores dampen with sweat, the blood in his body betraying him as it retreats so he looks ghostly  
pale.

"I don't care about Louis' father, Niall!" Liam shouts, calling the attention of everyone present down  
either side of the hall.

That's not even the scariest thing, when the security officers start making their way towards the two.  
No, the scariest thing is when Liam's hand lifts into the air in a backwards oscillation and Niall trips  
on something in his eager attempt to step away.

"Liam, stop!" He shouts in a plea but that's not what stops the advancing maniac.

A hand that belongs to an arm significantly more muscular than Liam's does, catching ahold of the  
man's forearm before he can deliver any blows. Niall's shock is further extended with sour pliers  
and an ill strain his mind, when Harry happened to be the one who stopped Liam.

_Maybe it's the air in this old, old town that made every sane man a lunatic and every lunatic a  
feared sane man._

Liam identifies his antagonist and lowers his arm on his own, stiffly yanking the limb free of  
Harry's ridiculously strong hold. He'd feel greatly emasculated if he didn't get himself free the first  
time. Harry didn't seem to have an issue however things played out, the black abyss of playful  
demons grinning out at him from behind the evil twinkle amongst green.

"Why did you do that?" Niall dusts off the back pockets of his jeans as he stands up all on his own. 

Harry watches Liam walk down the hallway as pressurised human can of rage and poorly fitted  
agitation. He ignores Niall and turns back to Louis' room.

"Wait!" Niall's hand just manages to not slip off Harry's arm when he reaches for it.

"Let me go." Harry snaps and shakes Niall off, not half as violently as Liam had.

"You could have let him hit me." Niall continues when Harry turns around to look at him, his mouth  
forming a grim line and jaw tense. "You could have."

"I didn't do it for you." Harry frowns as if the suggestion itself is foul and in poor taste. "I did it for  
petal."

"What?" Niall's dry lips hurt as he parts them. "How was that for Louis?"

"If Liam hit you, petal would insist on staying with you rather than coming home with us." Harry  
explains fluidly without a hitch or knapjack in his deep voice, finishing off with a dimpled grin.

Niall is derailing from proper human responses when he realises that Louis deals with this psycho  
everyday now. How was he still capable of being a functional member of society after having a  
conversation with Harry? Harry, who had enough strength to stop a fucking bullet and  
_dimples_ to paralyse a cougar; possibly turn someone into a cougar.

"Wasn't that just for yourself then? And not Louis?" Niall folds his arms and raises an eyebrow.

Harry thinks about it, his frown making his brows lean towards one another. "It could be both."

"Not really."

Harry glares at him, that special glint reappearing from behind the master cloaks of emerald. "I  
saved your life just as easily as I could have let it slip away."

"He wouldn't have killed me, for your information."

"A correctly projected _tickle_ to the right place can kill you." Harry lowers his voice until it's  
as smouldering as his eyes. "Don't underestimate a man who has had something taken from him."

* * * * *

"I told you you'd eat the sandwich too." Edward wasn't mocking the empty state of their food and  
beverage containers, as he was quite appeased to have Louis finish it all.

"You weren't eating it and I felt sorry for it." Louis half-heartedly jokes, standing up after an hour of  
only getting a quick shift in his seat.

"The reason doesn't matter." Edward is glad to see that Louis fails to resist his advances when he  
tries picking the boy up.

"I admit defeat then." Louis yawns into his third serviette and wishes he had more than plain socks  
on. 

Edward passes by the ICU and NICU before finally arriving at the double doors that were in  
abundance at this hospital, this particular pair guarding Louis' room on the other wide.

"May I confess something?" He pauses before Louis can push against the metal tab and open one  
half of the doorway.

"Okay." Louis retracts his hand and fidgets with the strings of his sweatpants through the thin  
hospital gown he wore.

"When I asked what you planned to do after you were discharged, I meant that-"

"I know what you meant." Someone walking in the opposite direction almost knocks Edward and  
Louis down when they burst through the doors. "I.....I can't-"

"Don't say no." Edward steps away from the doors completely now, drawing their party of two into  
one the small corridors again. "Say you'll think about it but don't say no."

Louis' lips fish mouth with his lack of words to put out there. How deep does whatever _this_  
is run for Edward? He's staring boldly into Louis' eyes with such open begging that the boy fears he  
can see the reluctance at root level in his soul.

He also doesn't think living alone in a hotel room would be good for him, because his mind won't  
let him function outside worrying about his comatose father. He needs to try and kick some of the  
grief away, which he can only do in the presence of other people, before it all became too much.

"I-I will. I will-" Louis gets softer as his voice trails off. "-think about it."

Edward's rattled sea of calm is settled for this temporary moment in time and he conveys his  
gratitude by pressing his lips to Louis' hair and feeling the boy relax against him as well. They had  
to break apart some time because Edward's arms will eventually give out, but for now this was good  
enough.

"I feel you're entitled to some sleep now, petal." Edward says to him in a warm as toast voice.

Louis surprises all the people passing by who have worked in and around here for five, ten and  
thirty years when he wraps his arm around Edward's neck. He doesn't shock himself anymore with  
these minute acts, as they've become a mutual understanding.

He chews the dry and rough skin right off his bottom lip, wincing when he got too close to the  
inside of his mouth and it started to bleed. "Actually, I-"

"May I?" Edward had watched the whole thing and even got to see Louis swipe away a fresh drop  
of blood with his _tongue_. He was not above depravity.

"May you what?"

"Kiss you."

Louis' tongue goes over the open wound one more time and Edward is both captivated by it and  
revolted by it not being _his tongue._

"My lip is-"

"That is the very reason I want to kiss you right now, petal." Edward becomes more and more antsy  
as he notices the blood flow dwindling.

"O-Oka-" He's got the main syllable out and that means Edward's mouth crashing down on his.

With a tiny whimper, definitely not a sound that fits in Louis' big mouth, the boy is dragged into a  
dark corner - hospitals really shouldn't have such things - and improperly situated before Edward's  
lips are sliding across his again. He knows what Edward is going for and parts his lips to give him  
all the access he needs.

The lip that's been cut by his teeth is exposed to newly unleashed savagery as Edward sucks the  
dark pink between his both and draws out every last drop of blood he can get. His teeth are subtle at  
first, hands securing Louis' thighs so he doesn't slip, then the sharp molars puncture the existent cut  
to make his mission more effective.

Louis moans in muddled pleasure and pain, his lip caught in the mix of Edward's. He can only hold  
on and stick the prick of pain when Edward starts suckling on the tiny wound. The blood stops  
escaping eventually and the salty sweet taste is but a memory on Edward's greedy tongue.

Edward has only gotten that taste once before and to have the recollection reimbursed is his ultimate  
fantasy. He pulls away with wide blown and wild eyes, matching Louis' though the boy's is a little  
more tired. He kisses Louis innocently one more time.

"Did I hurt you?" Edward has to check. He won't allow himself to go on assuming that every single  
time he gets close ravishing Louis, the boy enjoys it too.

Louis shakes his head after a breath, looking more than a little frazzled as he licks his lips. "N-No."

"It's alright." Edward brushed his unruly state of hair down to be tamed, bringing his lips close  
enough to Louis' undoubtedly very sore ones. "Always tell me if I hurt you."

As he finished the sentence, he slotted his lips back into their home against Louis'. This kiss was  
slower and Louis didn't feel like his heart would leap out of his chest and thrash around on the  
waxed, polished floor. He sighed into it as an unspoken sign of submission, and when it got a little  
more heated his tongue was drawn in Edward's mouth for a short-lived battle for domination. He  
lost and when Edward withdrew, his tongue was poking out just the slightest with the man's taste  
still on him.

"This is not going be like before, petal." Edward assured him. "I will never take it too far."

Louis preened at this new development. Now that he's stuck in Middleston and back to square one,  
except that he's fretting over his dad's health, he needs to be promised some preservation.

"Thank you." Louis whispers, out of breath and volume. "That would...make me feel safer."

Edward smiled briefly at him before deciding they needed to get a move on. "I will leave you with  
your father and come back in an hour for you."

"You don't have to come-"

"If you protest, I'll shorten that time."

Louis sticks his bottom lip out, swollen and slightly cut as it is. He pushes open the door when  
Edward presents it to him once again, finally making it past the barrier into his own wing. It was a  
short trip from here to his dad's recovery room, but there's a sight worth seeing that gets him and his  
carrier to nearly tip over.

"Oh my God." Louis gasps, hand covering his mouth.

Edward's stature becomes rigid against the softness of Louis' exterior. His arms tighten and his jaw  
screws shut with a murderous look in his eye, while Louis just can't find it in himself to be anything  
except _betrayed._

"I will murder my own brother today." Edward grits out in a voice that shouldn't come from him.

Niall's body was no more than zero millimetres apart from Harry's, with those hairless and just the  
perfect kind of pale hands gripping the man's jacket lapels. Their outwards appearance not the most  
traumatising part, but the part where their lips are meshed together.

It's hardly a relief to watch Harry suffer through the opening of the kiss before frowning his deepest  
and angriest, shoving Niall off him. He hadn't even seen Louis and Edward so he didn't push Niall  
off for their sake.

It could be an appealing thought that Harry genuinely didn't want anything to do with Niall on that  
level - or any other level - but there's always the heartbreak from the deed itself of his best friend to  
drown out that joy.


	17. Chapter Seventeen

**Niall's body was no more than zero millimetres apart from Harry's, with those hairless and just  
the perfect kind of pale hands gripping the man's jacket lapels. Their outwards appearance not the  
most traumatising part, but the part where their lips are meshed together.**

***NARRATOR'S POV***

When Harry shoves Niall off he's a splitting image of a human raging bull. It sickenly settles the  
mini explosion in Louis' chest to know that his friend's efforts at diving headfirst into something  
that will end up harming him, has been fruitless.

Edward isn't any less happy about it, and Louis starts to take his threat to Harry seriously. He looks  
at Edward in the middle of his prayer that he isn't dropped. He's disappointed and furious, all rolled  
into and divided into fitting both eyes that become more and more soulless.

"Maybe not today." Edward's clenched jaw hardly allows for his words to be squeezed out.

Harry hears him now that he's not distracts by another _person_ trying to fucking climb him.  
He turns to his right and that anger dissolves into helplessness. He doesn't want his petal to think he  
chose _anyone_ above him.

_How dare Louis' supposed friend try to get between them?_ He belonged to his precious Lou  
and nobody else.

"Harry, no!" Louis almost falls out of Edward's arms when he sees Harry grab Niall by the arm.

"Edward, stop him."

"No." Edward looked at everyone else around them, daring them to set foot near his brother.

Harry's sudden grip jerks Niall's whole body forward, letting him stumble but not fall as he got  
closer to Harry. His eyes were widened by the fearful tears that were building, regret from his awful  
decision surfacing for all to see. He couldn't fight off Harry - the man who _saved_ him - on  
any good day.

"He'll kill him. Edward please!" Louis began pushing Edward's shoulders and trying to break free,  
but he might as well be shoving iron.

Edward saw a win-win in this situation if he just let play out what may, but he wasn't his old self  
anymore and couldn't allow for his petal to be heartbroken. "Give me the answer I want to my  
question."

"What?!" Louis was watching in shreds of horror as Harry nearly cracked Niall's clavicle with the  
force of his clamping down hand.

"Say yes." Edward told him.

"Yes!" Louis shouted, long lost to any hope of knowing what he was consenting to.

Immediately, Edward's voice met Harry's ears down the passageway and got him to cease his attack.

"Harry!"

The intended man drops his hand from Niall's neck and arm, screwing his mouth shut from its  
frightening snarl, and looks over his shoulder at where he was called.

Everyone in the hospital was dead silent, nurses and others frozen in their phone calls. Every object  
was brought to a standstill and a pin drop could be heard dozens of rooms down the hall. All eyes  
were on them, even the security guards and present police officers who seemed to forget what they  
were here for.

Harry left his space of crowding Niall into his last corner, and made his way over to Louis. There  
was no loss of attitude or authority, because he still walked with his head raised to the level and  
eyes scanning everything. People shivered even if he didn't look at them.

"Petal." All that stone cold exterior melted when he reached Louis, eyes searching Louis' for the  
rejection that would end him.

Louis touches Harry's wrist when the man cups his cheek, unable to bring himself to smile. Feeling  
like an infant he is passed to Harry by Edward, filling up the space between his shoulders and  
against his chest. He looks right into Harry's eyes, totally unafraid.

"I'm not his, petal." Harry starts, leaning his forehead against Louis' and his eyes fought to nestle  
amongst the blue ocean of Louis'. "I'm yours, darlin'. Always."

"I know." Louis speaks in a tiny hushed tone. "I know, Daddy."

Harry was smiling so widely it had to hurt some muscles in his face, but he didn't show any of it. He  
held Louis close and around a low point on his back like nothing was wrong.

Louis wants to lie to himself and keep repeating that he tacked on the only word that can make  
Harry grin like a schoolboy because he's protecting Niall from getting hurt. Going through what he  
had to is not something he wants for anyone, especially not the person he set out to save in the first  
place.

The truth made him feel bleedin' guilty and he had to confess it before it got him to scream or lash  
out.

He spoke so affectionately to Harry because these two psychopaths are _his_ and he hates that  
everyone - Niall - suddenly thinks they can handle them.

If everyone could, he would not have evolved into being able to tolerate the pain in all facets that  
came along with the twins. It was a neurotic ideology and he wasn't proud of it, but when Harry  
kissed his forehead and those notorious dimples reappeared he didn't care.

"Mine." Harry kissed the corner of Louis' eye. "And I am yours."

Louis has to slide an arm around Harry's neck to keep himself upright and away from the threat of  
falling. He's uncertain at first but Harry let's him take his time and eventually he gets to resting his  
head on the man's shoulder. His fingers found their way into Harry's burgundy curls.

"Take him to his father." Edward suddenly says, standing really close to Louis' side.

"Room?" Harry hasn't been to the ER today and didn't know where he'd be going. 

Edward tells him the room number and Louis spies his eyes on him rather than Harry just before  
they leave. He wishes for the ability to walk more than a fixed car at the moment. Harry starts  
walking and Niall is obviously not where Louis last saw him, no matter how hard the boy searches  
for him.

"You smell like lavender, petal." Harry casually remarks, his thumb doing circles on Louis' thigh.

"Really?" Louis hasn't been around any lavender or lavender scents for him to smell like it.

"What happened to your lip?"

Harry stopped just outside the emergency wing's collection of patient rooms. His finger grazes the  
split corner of Louis' lip investigatively, frowning at how predominant the injury is.

"Bit it." Louis admits, staring at the third door next to a whiteboard with visiting hours on it.

"Who bit it?"

"M-Me."

"Evidently." Harry chuckled, amused by the damage done because of such a small act. He knows  
Louis couldn't have done it.

After being brought to a closer radius where his father was the central point, Louis' breathing  
morphs into rapid and short pants. His panic is in a small dose but the large glass window that  
allows him to peer into the room his father was in, made him feel far more unstable.

He is taken closer to the door and allowed to peer in ahead of time like this reality isn't his, and he's  
a kind of outsider watching a boy's father sleep without ever rousing. It's the closest thing to death,  
but at least in death you know what's in store for you.

His dad is lying on this single bed, propped up just enough so Louis can see his face. His ageing  
visage and all its features in such a calm, tranquil state. Mark always worried and worked, stressed  
until his hair turned grey over something or the other.

Harry sets him down on a chair close to his father's bedside. "An hour, petal."

When Harry leaves, Louis takes his father's hand from his chest and holds it between both of his.  
He watches his father until his eyes get blurry and he can't focus without squinting.

"I'm sorry, Dad." He speaks hoarsely and with a giant lump in his throat. "I'm so sorry I brought you  
here."

He resents himself and his irresponsible decision to drag his father down here, but at the time he  
had no other choice. He needed his father and his father came running. This isn't how he saw it  
going down however. Mark now remained still and oblivious to everything around him, but maybe  
it would be one of those miracles where the coma patient can hear what the people near them said.  
"I'll be here everyday, I promise." Louis leaned closer to him and brushed back his thin head of hair.

"You're going back home."

In his hour of waiting, none of the time feels wasted or useless. Louis sits in his chair with his  
healing leg out in front of him, his father's hand on the other knee. He sits hoping with dire need  
that something will start beeping soon so his parent will wake up and look at him. He's lost one  
parent and even if this one stays alive but unconscious, Louis doubts that it counts for anything.

"L-Louis?" Someone clears their throat in the doorway and it isn't one of the twins.

Louis looks up and his weepy expression turns distasteful before switching to exhaustion. There's so  
much to be tired of, and his best friend standing nervously at the door just adds to the pile.

"Not now, Niall." Louis doesn't even extend their eye contact. He's _that_ hurt by the other  
male.

"Louis, I want to apologise." Niall perseveres, stepping into the room with bags under eyes and a  
red nose.

"I know you do." Louis shakes his head, looking down at his lap. "Just don't do it now please."

"It's been _eating_ me up-"

"And trust me, I know it has-" Louis futilely wipes his nose again. "-but I don't care for your  
apology now. My dad is in a coma which is more important than you kissing Harry."

He spoke the truth. Whether he said it convincingly or not is of another issue. Niall looks about to  
break down when he looks at Mark's condition on the bed, finally perceiving what he's been  
avoiding.

"I'm so sorry, Lou." He says, not about his earlier lack of judgment this time. "What did the doctors  
say?"

Louis seems to be as willing as Niall is to put this aside for the time being. They can return to it  
later but for now, Louis just needs his best friend to be there for him.

"They said he'll be fine when he wakes up." Louis can only smile weakly in the general direction of  
Niall's silhouette.

Niall approaches the chair alongside Louis' and gingerly touches the back. "Can I sit?"

Louis nods without looking his way again, and Niall slides into the cold seat beside his friend. He  
sighs when nothing more is said for another two hundred and ten seconds, but his courage gets him  
to make a move first.

He slowly lowers his head until it's on Louis' shoulder, his internal organs failing at the small twitch  
in the other direction his friend has. Louis settles finally just before Niall feels he'll combust, and  
his cheek rests against Niall's hair.

"How long have you been here?" Niall asks as something lower than a husk.

"Less than an hour. I'm not sure how long." Louis replies slowly, breathing in deep.

"Are you going back to your room later?"

"Yeah." Louis hopes he will be alone this time. "The doctor said I could get a slip from him when  
I'm ready to leave."

"Oh. Okay good."

"What?" Louis glances at him speculatively.

Niall blinks innocently at Louis with undoubtedly a proposition behind all that worry. "What  
'What'?"

"You have that look again." Louis tells him, something imaginary making his nose itch.

"Where will-" Niall's sigh is hardly audible. "-you be staying?"

"With-" Louis finds himself pausing before the names can be given. He doesn't care if it offends  
Niall anymore, even if he should because it does. "With Edward and Harry."

"Okay then." Is all Niall says, an unreadable expression on his face and a sad look in his eye. "Did  
you hear anything about the apartment?"

Louis was shattered with guilt after his companion asked him that. He only had the choice of  
returning to the apartment? That's enough to make any person sad.

"No." Louis responds truthfully. "Maybe you could book a hotel?"

"The bar's been slow." Niall cracks his knuckles. "I wouldn't have enough cash to last me until  
everything was sorted out."

"What about Liam?"

Louis didn't know about Niall and Liam's fall out just recently, and so he didn't understand the way  
his friend's shoulders tensed up even with bruised muscles. He waits for an explanation at least.

"He....I don't trust him anymore." Niall gushes out in one long stretch with his exhale.

"Why not?"

"He tried to hit me." Niall plays with his fingers, the memories flying back violently. "Almost  
succeeded."

"You got away?"

"Harry stopped him." Niall convinced himself that he was merely answering the questions Louis  
posed to him. "He said he did it because if you were with me after Liam hit me, he wouldn't get you  
to stay with them."

It's a cruel rush of relief to Louis' system when he hears the elaboration of Niall's story. He shouldn't  
be feeling this....this _possessive_ over two men he couldn't hope to control. Yet, he does and  
he's failing at bringing himself to regret any of it.

* * * * *

"Duckling?"

Two hours into their patient wait, after it being officially declared that either twin was late to fetch  
Louis and the boy fell asleep with his head on the hospital bed, Liam came knocking. Niall looks up  
from where he's guarding Louis' closed eyes from the poke of stray hair.

"What do you want?" Niall sighs upon identifying his visitor and goes back to carding Louis' hair.

"I'm _so_ sorry, Ni." Liam sounds so sincere in his apology that he could convince anyone of  
his innocence.

Niall has to stop him from stepping into the room because their drama didn't belong in Louis' dad's  
presence. He stood up and walked outside into the hall, arms crossed over his chest to preserve his  
body warmth and guard his front.

Liam looked torn up after just being away for two hours. He has hollowed cheeks with bitten lips,  
cracks and red slits all over them. His shoulders were hunched and hair disorderly.

"I never meant to hurt you, Duckling." He says honestly, all the comprehension from what he'd just  
done to frighten Niall influencing the break in his voice. "I-I don't know why I did that, who I  
_became_ in that time."

Niall jerks out of his way when Liam tries reaching out for him, breaking the man's heart with the  
way he plays it off by rubbing his arms. Liam retracts his hand and looks at the ground, his boots  
scuffy and knuckles a little more bruised.

"What the Hell happened to you?" Niall found himself asking as he took in the nature of Liam's  
appearance, gasping at how obscene it is that he should be so dysfunctional.

Liam is the most boring person Niall knows - or knew, rather. He never got into fights and certainly  
never displayed any signs of a short fuse. What brought this on then? Niall wants to know if all is  
well up in that complex muscle organ that is Liam's brain.

"Punched a wall." Liam shrugs like it's really no big deal. "Three or four times."

"Liam!" Niall impulsively reaches out and captures Liam's fist, examining the damage under the  
ideal lighting.

Liam watches Niall study his cuts and bruise marks, internally cursing himself for ever  
_thinking_ of bringing harm to this boy. "Sorry, Ni."

"Yeah, yeah. Shut up." Niall clears away the blockage in his voice box with a small cough. "Let's  
get this bandaged before the whole damn thing turns blue."

* * * * *

"What if he doesn't like it?" Harry asks his brother, who was flattening and straightening where it  
was needed on their new purchase. 

"We get rid of it." Edward passes him by.

"And bring back the old one?"

"Is there a _reason_ you're asking pointless questions, brother?" Edward displays his  
disapproving glare while on his hunt to locate the Rover keys.

Harry frowns in offence, shifting the focal point of his vision from his rude sibling to the beige  
threads that is part of the sofa he was seated on. Edward finds the keys under a pile of linen, as his  
brother was the lesser organised of them he tended to hide every valuable belonging under rubbish.

"Can we leave?" Harry stands and cracks his knuckles against both sides of his neck.

"Of course. Are you okay?"

"Fine."

"You don't seem-"

"Well I am, so can we go get petal and come back now?"

Edward's hand claps Harry's shoulder and the force behind it stops him from moving any further.

"You'll have to watch the tone for that. What the fuck is wrong?"

Sighing and just _fleetingly_ glancing his brother, afraid of what disapproval may lie in those  
matching eyes of his, Harry opens his mouth to fess up. "Petal's friend....._touched_ me."

"We're aware." Edward's hand got a little more unforgiving. "We have moved past that."

"Are we?" Harry pulls himself free and walks deeper into the room, hand stuck in his hair. "I can't  
forget it."

"Why not?" Edward followed him only with his eyes, hiding his fear of what Harry could say.

"It was _foul_ and I've tried not thinking about it but I can't. Help me, brother. Help me  
please."

Edward remains quiet for a minute, an empty unspoken communication shared through their stares  
but a pregnant silence. He rolls his tongue against the inside of his cheek as he thinks, hollowing out  
the other side of his face so the structural bone was explicitly defined.

"You'll have to close your eyes for my help." His words come out in the silky treat of a voice he  
possesses, but his lips don't seem to move.

Harry gives him an exasperated look but obeys diligently immediately after. Nothing happened for  
much too long and he was tempted to open his eyes again to find out whether this was a ruse or not.  
Louis' friend made him feel like every chip of effort he's put towards making himself _Louis'_  
has been wasted. It's horrifying. 

There's warm breath fanning out over his forehead and eyelids. Edward wasn't taller than him and  
the mystery of how his lips got that high made Harry want to look, but he controlled the pungent  
urge.

Edward's mouth landed on his in a fury and the unsealed lips were already damp, pulling apart  
Harry's to make for a greater space. He caught Harry's hands when the latter tried to touch him,  
pinning them with unnecessary force to the solid wall, hearing the slap of skin hitting cement. His  
nails scratched Harry's wrists and Harry easily surrendered to the forbidden nature of their kiss.  
Harry's head hit the wall and Edward groaned into his mouth, the younger lapping at all the sounds  
given to him. The temperature rose over a dangerous limit and the air was too thick to breathe, but  
neither needed oxygen. Harry moved his lips down Edward's neck to praise the muscular frame of  
his brother, trying desperately to leave marks.

Edward halted his ministrations by grabbing Harry's face at his chin, inflicting slight pain over the  
jaw when he squeezed. He stared into those eyes that were a reflection of his own. "Better?"

Harry made a depraved noise. "Not entirely."

"Too bad." Edward released him and rotated his body but Harry wasn't allowing that.

"Wait." He took Edward by the back of his neck and held on. "More."

"You're a greedy bastard."

Edward growled, clamping his jaw shut when Harry got to his throat again with harsh bites and  
nibbles. He furiously worked to release Harry's fly and push him back against the wall, biting down  
on his neck with force he'd never use on Louis. Not anymore, at least.

"You don't fucking deserve anything." Edward contradicted his words and slipped his hand down  
past the waistband of Harry's Calvin Klein's.

* * * * *

Louis woke up from his nap in a shock after hearing the heavy roll of a gurney past his dad's door  
and the shouting that went with it. The first thing he noticed was the painful kink in his neck,  
spreading his fingers over the swollen spot and massaging the stiffness out. He slowed his heartbeat  
after the noise past, and looked back at where his father was resting. There was no progress and he  
wasn't any closer to waking up.

"Please don't kill me when you wake up." He couldn't reach Mark's forehead so he settled for  
kissing the back of his hand.

Straightening his back, Louis felt something slide off his back and land bunched up on the chair. He  
blinks a few times to relieve irritation and picks up the jacket in the dim lighting, noting the  
upmarket label and perfect insulating material. He draped it over his shoulders again as the evening  
has gotten dark and cold.

_Why was he here when it's dark and cold?_

Thankfully, his answer arrives in the form of a new person's shadow blocks out the light from the  
hallway. It could be Niall but Louis knows this person with a different speciality.

"I didn't want to wake you." Harry walked in slowly, making his way over to Louis before ignoring  
the vacant chair and kneeling by him.

Harry looked better than when he left, in the sense that his mind wasn't in two places. Those glassy  
but captivating green eyes seemed to be all on Louis, and Louis alone.

"It was an uncomfortable nap." Louis admits to him, a small part of his brain huffing and puffing at  
the fact that Harry was lower than him but he didn't have to look down.

"Was it? Sorry, petal." Harry neatened some of Louis' hair and smiled at the jacket.

"Is it yours?" Louis held the lapel of the coat, his fingers spreading out slightly.

Harry nods silently, and Louis swears he leaned forward for a blink before going back. "Do you like  
it?"

Now it's Louis' free turn to nod. He really did like the coat that seemed to swallow him just  
perfectly, the faint hint of past colognes clinging to the heavy material.

"I just might keep it for myself." Louis smiles, crinkly eye corners and thin lips turning pinker.

"You're welcome to." Harry flips the collar so it sticks up on either side of Louis' face, covering his  
ears.

There's a soft and generous giggle from the boy that Harry gets the pleasure of hearing. He  
_does_ lean forward this time and rests his head on Louis' chest. The boy freezes from the  
sudden act but ends up fiddling with the curls of Harry's hair soon enough.

"Ow." Louis' thumb is brushing back and forth over a bright bruise on Harry's neck.

Harry chuckles and nuzzles Louis' softness, turning his face into the wonderland of Louis' body.  
"Sometimes the least pleasant things are the most gratifying."

Louis almost double checks to ensure that the poor lighting isn't deceiving him and this is actually  
Edward trying to bury himself in his chest. Harry finds it amusing that he does but doesn't comment  
when Louis tugs a little on his hair.

"Petal, are you okay?" Harry is brushing Louis' thigh with no indecency, merely rubbing the fabric  
of his loose pants because that's what he can reach easily.

"Yes." Louis exhales loudly. "Yes and no."

A disgruntled but curious sounds makes its way up Harry's throat. "Tell me. I want to know."

"Later." Louis promises. "I need to get out of this chair now."

Harry is a worthy gentleman when he helps Louis stand up and keeps from ogling his behind. The  
coat falls down to Louis' knees and that amazing view is stolen from him. He wants to give Louis   
the opportunity to walk without hurting himself so he sticks to his side, letting the boy lean all his  
weight on him.

"There must be something unappealing about this injury." Louis can't keep to the silence at the  
moment, limping as he is, and has to speak.

The arm around him got more secure and Harry's lips curled into a smirk. If those weren't so  
aesthetically pleasing, Louis would label it an ordinary amused reaction.

"What?" Louis and he come to a stop not outside his room which is confusing.

"You're insecure about your ankle." Harry gave him a sly grin, a small dimple showing up.

"I'm not." Louis would know if he was. He's a psychology major.

"There's no need to be."

"Good because I'm not."

"I believe-" Harry laughs enough for the gesture to be seen but not heard. "-those painkillers are  
wearing off, petal."

Louis takes note of the fact that his injured ankle is indeed in a tremendous amount of flames but  
also probably swollen under his heavy cast. He bites his upper lip and uses the wall as a support  
beacon until Harry finds his humour dying down. The man pities him when he knows he probably  
shouldn't, and pulls Louis into the circle of his embrace.

"You're getting discharged today." Harry cares to rub Louis' back with his flat palm.

"It's been a long day." Louis mumbles, tense but not displeased with his current state.

"It has been. Poor petal." Harry kisses Louis on his forehead. "We even have a surprise for you."

"I don't want any surprises, Harry."

"That's just tough luck then, petal."

He sees Edward walking towards them from the company of Louis' doctor. Edward stops before  
them and looks at Louis who can't see him, not changing his expression as he cleared his throat.  
Louis peeked out from behind his own arms and scowled.

"You can sleep when we take you back, petal." Edward listens to the rustle of Louis' attire shifting  
as Harry scratched too hard.

The fingers of Harry's right hand started out rubbing the dimples at the bottom of Louis' spine, then  
escalated to much more recognisable pinching and scratching. A sharp electric click would sound  
off whenever Harry's nails scraped or snapped past one another.

It was bound to leave behind more than a few red marks but it was a stress reliever for the man, and  
couldn't be stopped.

"Back?" Louis squirmed when the actions against the sensitivity of his skin got too damaging. 

"Back _home_, petal."

* * * * *

Harry encouraged Louis to use his crutches because he could not be carried everywhere. He'd  
happily give in if Louis openly asked him but the boy didn't - which was a disappointment to  
Edward. Louis took the heavy instruments from Harry and tried to figure how they'd work well with  
his system of movement.

"I will be right behind you, darlin'." Harry felt Louis' eyelashes flutter against his cheek when he  
kissed his forehead. "I'll catch you if you fall."

"He won't fall." Edward locked the Range Rover and stepped around them.

Gerard wasn't needed to open the door when they arrived, Edward watching his brother turn into a  
mutated mother hen over Louis. It was a puzzle to focus on the crutches whilst watching the ground  
to ensure that wherever he was walking is safe, but Louis managed it for the time it took for him to  
reach the staircase.

"He's back then." Gemma didn't stand up from her pretzel position on the lounge L-shaped couch.  
Nobody had seen her up until that moment. Members of the Styles family did not lay around  
watching TV, ever since the birth of their bloodline. Louis didn't understand if he was being hated  
on or it was just another snide comment from another person.

"Can you handle the stairs?" Harry asked Louis, who was seriously doubtful he could manage  
anything other than flat ground.

"I'm going to try." Louis responds nervously.

Edward leaned against the wooden banister at the base of the staircase's railing, twirling the ring of  
keys in his hand over and over. He watched Louis' every breath and twitch, memorising it all for  
future reference. His keys stopped any sound they caused when he suddenly grabbed them wholly,  
Louis having tripped on the first step.

"You can ask for help, petal." Edward reminds him, a smirk painted on his ashen skin.  
Louis almost did. "Or I could stay on this level."

Harry started to cackle the way he did the day he entrapped Louis in his arms in the Madhouse  
interview room. Edward however was not amused when he saw that Louis had an all-serious  
manner about him.

"Such spunk even at a time like this, petal." Edward shook his head like he has an argument going  
on in his head. "Drop them."

"What?" Louis looks at him like he's crazy. Well, in a more societal manner reserved for people  
with preposterous proposals.

"Drop." Edward takes the crutches away from Louis as his strength is superior, and leans them  
against the railing.

Louis doesn't last long, as predicted. He starts to fall backwards when the lack of one leg's support  
means loss of balance. His arms are caught on the downfall, elbows secured by the twin that was  
behind him.

"It's alright, petal. I got you." Harry whispered in his ear, planting a very unlike him kiss just below.  
Being lifted will always be Louis' least favourite part of being carried. He's hoisted into the air  
swiftly - he does not think about how many times they have done this to the living and dead alike -  
and Harry almost drops him. It's a quick save before Edward glares reprimandingly and Louis  
squeaks.

"Do you trust me, petal?" Harry asked on the fourth step towards the second level.

Their footsteps were muted by the thick carpet, probably hand woven in a sweat shop somewhere in  
the world. Louis has nothing to do with his hands so he studies the fine hairs between his first and  
second knuckles.

"Do you want me to trust you?" Louis asked back to him.

"That question answers itself, I believe." They're finally at the top and Louis feels tired for Harry.

"Maybe it does."

After the horrible happening at his apartment that he can never set foot in again, Louis realised that  
he had placed a great amount of trust in the twins to not harm him above what was already done.  
They not only delivered on that, but _protected_ him and that's the bit he'll never forget.

"Now for the surprise." Harry kicked the door to the bedroom open with his knee, waiting for it to  
slide open fully before stepping in.

"Surprise?" Louis can't see anything in the darkness of the room.

Edward flips the light on at the switch when he passes the white panel, stripping off his jacket at a  
sofa chair by the curtained windows. Louis thinks everything looks exactly the same until his eyes  
land on the centre piece of the room.

He stares at the single bed for a while, not comprehending what they were trying to tell him. Instead  
of two single beds pushed together or even in separate vicinities, there was one _massive_ bed  
with fresh linen and bedding right in the middle. There were so many black and grey pillows - all  
useless - and black covers.

"Do you like it, petal?" Harry didn't set Louis down, proud to show off this new feat.

"I-" Louis opens his mouth and closes it again. "Depends on what you.....did this for?"

It came out as a question more than a statement because towards the second half of the sentence he  
was riddled with confusion. After the day he's had he arrives at the victory of this. Not that it's  
unfulfilling, Louis does feel a twinge of satisfaction. 

"I like it." Louis promises the worry on Edward's brow before they force out an explanation for him.  
Harry smiles widely and Louis tries to return with half as much gusto. These two crazies are his, as  
profoundly and boldly as he is theirs. It was abundantly clear now.

Wait. Louis runs his tongue over the caps of his teeth, thinking about the time it takes to acquire and  
obtain a new bed of this quality.

"Is this why you were late?" He asks either one of them, a tiny string of amusement showing.

"No." Harry answers too quickly.

Louis makes a small humming sound and is placed on his feet carefully. It always felt good to touch  
the ground. The carpet is soft and the fine tendrils feel like clouds on his socks. He doubts the  
mattress is much more comfortable than this anomaly.

"Come on." Harry slips his arm around Louis' waist, relaxing at the hardly visible but evident proof  
of swelling from his mistreatment at the base of Louis' spine. "We're going to shower."

No choice is given - he knows there never is - and Edward goes into the majestic adjacent  
compartment of their closet. Harry helps Louis into the bathroom in the meanwhile, turning the  
lighting on the knob to a dim setting.

There's the point of undressing when Harry reaches out to Louis eagerly but suddenly stops himself.  
Without a word to the boy, Harry leaves the bathroom with the door open. Louis finds this both  
interesting and a little baffling, but he goes on to remove his clothing himself.

The option of a shower is tempting but there's no support railing in there for him. He blows out a  
tired breath and picks at his short nails while he considers the two methods. Two minutes after his  
departure, Harry returns as abruptly as he left.

"Clothes." Harry sets a neat pile on the counter between the basin and the wall.

Louis needs more time to think so he grabs a towel and waits for Harry to leave. Nothing happens  
and they end up staring at each other as Louis blocked his chastity with the ends of the towel,  
feeling grimy and exhausted.

"I need to do this alone, Harry." He finally says, not entirely convincing himself.

"You'll fall." Harry turns to close the bathroom door slowly, hearing the click of the latch and then  
only feeling satisfied.

"I can handle myself."

Harry was stubborn and refused to leave when Louis insisted. He'd rather strip Louis of the towel  
and start taking off his own clothing than listen. Louis' annoyance shone through his need for  
Harry's support, so he remains as steadfast in it as he can.

"You have a strong mind, petal." 

Harry was pressed against him, chest-to-chest and breathing down the side of Louis' throat. He  
noses along the path of a strong pulse over Edward's bite mark, and supports Louis' head with his  
hand.

"That doesn't matter though." He pressed a warm kiss to Louis' jaw. "Petals need their Daddies."


	18. chapter Eighteen

**Harry was pressed against him, chest-to-chest and breathing down the side of Louis' throat. He  
noses along the path of a strong pulse over Edward's bite mark, and supports Louis' head with his  
hand.**

**"That doesn't matter though." He pressed a warm kiss to Louis' jaw. "Petals need their  
Daddies."**

***LOUIS' POV***

A shower is a blessed thing when you've been treated like a sack of onions all day. The water would  
glide down my skin and never turn cold even when it reached my feet. Steam fogged up the glass  
walls of the shower section, adding a misty ambiance to the entire atmosphere.

There was naturally little time to appreciate all of this, because Harry's set of hands found their way  
to every part of my body. It wasn't misuse of the sponge and body gel in his hands, because he was  
damn near reverent when he took over the job of washing.

He made me face him first, the shower spraying hot water directly onto my back. At the very low  
point, a burn was initiated on probably blistered skin, but it was a mild and brief experience.  
Harry ran the sponge over every part of me, adding and spreading warmth as he went. Over my  
shoulders and around my neck, under my arms and on my chest. He never noticed me watching him  
with astounding confusion. _Why would he care to do this?_ He's being so careful and gentle  
about it.

"Talk to me, petal. I want to hear your voice." Harry broke through our silence to say, his eyes  
lifting to meet mine.

I suck in a breath, licking over my lip that was earlier abused. "Why are you doing this?"

The air gets suffocatingly thick when he slips his arms around me, standing to his full over six feet  
height. His arms were diagonally across my back, his palms landing just above my behind. I gasp at  
how close he gets just by this, his face less than an inch away and his wet hair sticking to his face.  
"If I can, petal, why shouldn't I?" He spreads out his fingers and grips me more firmly, causing the  
chain reaction of me falling forward.

"Have you done this for many lovers?" I ask quietly, partially dreading the answer.

"If you're asking because the thought repulses you-" Harry's mouth curves at one end as he smirks.  
"-then I have done this before."

I roll my eyes and breathe in more of the steam, feeling nothing when Harry starts to hum some  
slow tune with his fingers combing through my hair. He does the unordinary when he places a line  
of kisses down the side of my face, holding the damp hair out of the way. His fingertips trace the   
skin where my fine hairs stood attentively, compressed by the impact of his lips that makes me  
shiver.

"Do you like my kisses, petal?" He asks with his hand slipping lower, lower and lower.....  
A sound much too close to a moan races like a wild horse from my mouth, pushing past the barrier  
of my lips when Harry's finger dips into the crevice of my bum. My nails hit home on his neck,  
causing him to groan as he rubbed fruitfully over my hole.

"You like more than my kisses, petal?" Harry applies more pressure and speeds up the motions of  
his finger.

The soap remnants burn but the application of pressure against my traiterous body is enough to  
shroud that. I hear myself breathing in ragged moans, long exhales and sharp inhales. Harry controls  
all of me with that finger, not even yet trying to slip inside me.

"I can give you more than my kisses." Harry brands my neck with his lips, sucking a little on my  
skin to stain it a little red. "I can give you everything."

I have lost contact with my higher brain power, even the numbness of my ankle has been  
overshadowed by the prowess of Harry. He grips one cheek of my behind and his nails get too close  
to penetrating skin, my eyes flying open to greet his searing ones.

"You're my special one." Harry says in a terribly gravely voice, cupping the side of my face and  
tilting me upward. "You can tell me to do anything."

"W-Would you do it?" My voice shook than I appreciated, but I wasn't used to constant erotica.  
"We'll find out." He withdrew his hand from my face and wrapped that arm all the way around my  
neck.

His arm was _heavy_ and I could easily be swallowed up by how large his bicep becomes  
when pressed against something. I can only stare up at him with wet lashes and an open mouth,  
fearing what I could possibly look like to him.

"You've had a long day, darlin'. I can make you forget it." Harry seemed to be promising me that he  
could take away all my troubles, leave behind just filtered pleasure and satiation.

Could he really? Or was he just hoping to achieve it? I wanted to know either way, if he could make  
me forget even for an hour. One eventually comes to learn in a catch 22 like mine, the only way out  
is to head for your entrapper.

"Okay." I whisper as low as he did, turning my face to hide under his chin. His pulse raced beneath  
my fingers while I'm certain mine stopped altogether.

"Yeah?" He drags his hand, dripping in water, up and down the length of my back at a leisurely  
pace. The other hand hasn't moved from my posterior yet, in fact his hold hasn't loosened mercifully  
either.

I nod slowly, my mind combing through any reason to say no and just go on living. Instead, Harry is  
producing a very realistic growl against the skin below my ear with his teeth sunken into it. 

"You need Daddy to take care of you, petal?" He squeezed me where he held on to such an extent  
that I almost thought he'd tear the flesh right off.

Wincing as a result of the pain, I groaned and tried to get him off. Why I try, is beyond me, because  
he has me pinned and pliant in no time. I whimper into his chest when he starts the sequence of  
palpating on both sides of my behind.

"I need you to tell me, petal. I can't have you getting hurt again."

More nodding on my part. I fear that I've become the least vocal of all my times exposed to this side  
of Harry's dominance. I quiver on the inside thinking about _all the things_ that could be made  
possible with that particular trait.

"Want it." I squeeze out from my hollow lungs.

The hands cupping me released their cage and glided up to my back, spraying water away from my  
skin and against the flow of the shower. I find a tiny part of me missing that hold and with one leg  
partially off the ground, I'm licensed to express my unhappiness.

"I'm afraid you'll have to be louder, Lou." Harry taunts me by skimming over the wet state of my  
skin - each knob of my spine, shoulders, hips - then they're suddenly gone.

It's not _fair_ and I whine to complain about it. "Want you, Daddy."

"Oh my sweet boy." Harry pinches my chin between his thumb and index finger, his wet eyelashes  
and hooded eyes sinking into mine. "We're going to make you want us and hate us. You'll never be  
allowed to leave me or my brother for as long as you live."

I draw in a long and shaky breath, my libido turning a ball of burning flame. I want to scream and  
have someone stop me, muffle my shouts and make me obey. It's turning into a miserable need  
that's festering and rapidly growing into the slowly dominating part of my brain.

Harry hauls me into his arms so that no weight rested on either leg, spreading my thighs wider and  
wider as I was settled on his hip region. I kept my hands on either side of his face, my thumbs  
digging into his cheekbones and able leg wrapping around him. Left on the ground is my  
willingness and ability to say anything except words of consent.

"You'll be enough temptation to convince Edward." Harry switched off the shower behind me,  
goosebumps racing to the surface of my skin. "He's scared of hurting you."

I wrap my hand around a thick lock of Harry's hair and tug on it, incidentally bringing him close  
enough for him to shut up and kiss me. He responds to my initiation immediately by stepping  
forward a little clumsily and slamming me against the wall with no care for my present injuries. His  
hand flattens against the tile to the left of my head and he pulls open my lips to deposit his tongue  
alongside mine.

Our indecent make-out session ended with one of my legs slipping and the other being held by  
Harry. I pant into his mouth and the fruity essence of his breath is breathed into mine. Instinctively,  
I had found a place on his arms for my hands to grip.

* * * * *

***NARRATOR'S POV***

Niall moans but his body goes rigid, his hand gripping the door handle even if it was locked already  
_just to be safe._ He combats the jerking of his body against the door with Liam blocking  
every and any hope of escape with his body between his legs.

"I'm so sure we're going to be in trouble because of that." He says breathlessly, facing the ceiling  
with Liam's mouth at his neck.

"Doesn't matter." Liam nibbled on the pale stretch of thin skin of Niall's throat, avoiding the use of  
his teeth.

"You're a _police officer_."

Liam lifts his head out of Niall's bodily hideout and bumps their noses together. "I'm a  
_detective_, Duckling."

"Ugh." Niall groans and crosses his ankles so there's no chance of Liam pulling out against his  
wishes. "Li, did you see Louis?"

"Really? You're asking me that now?"

"Well I didn't see him when I went back to his room or his dad's." Niall bites his lip, troubled.  
"He's probably with the twins." Liam says dismissively.

He's not so concerned about Harry and Edward anymore. As bruising as it is to his masculinity, he'll  
admit that they've been more protective of and respectful towards Louis than he has been of Niall.

"It shouldn't be bothering you now, Ni." He continues. "It's just not our business now."

"Yeah, you're right." Niall convinced himself that if Louis needed help, he'd come to them first.

* * * * *

"Go on, petal." Harry patted Louis on his bum, encouraging him into the closet where Edward  
swapping clothing.

His aim was to entice Edward enough to bring him back to bed without being entirely obvious,  
which would defeat the purpose. Harry set him upon the quest with an encouraging - and bruising -  
kiss after checking that the boy could in fact walk with a small limp for this short distance.  
Louis released Harry's arm where he was gripping him for support. Harry chuckled at his pale  
anxiety and gave the boy a kiss on his cheek. "See you soon, darlin'."

Looking at him blankly, Louis felt his nerves relax into something covered with the smoothest of  
silk. The slightest contact with them will undoubtedly cause him to react with intense context.   
He walks - wobbles uncertainly - into the closet and is met with the explicit sight of Edward  
shirtless. The gaping double doorway allows him full access to an R-rated view of the man not see  
him while he strips off his trousers. Louis feels the palpitations in his chest from a racing heart,  
unable to stop himself - and really not wanting to - from admiring Edward's physique.

Edward's skin was even everywhere and stretched just the right way over the toned muscle sticking  
to his skeletal structure. His body was well proportioned and everything seemed to work, function  
in a seamless system. Louis has seen this body before, had this body against him in the darkest of  
ways. He still wants to give in to lust and run his tongue along the dips and ripples of Edward's  
body.

"Petal?" Edward had turned around in the time that Louis was trying to be discreet.

Louis panics at being caught but there's no way out from under Edward's arm when it comes around  
his waist. He looks up into those two timeless emerald orbs, glowing with the dim lighting. Bare  
chested and pressed up against Louis' without the smallest intention of sex is a little heartbreaking.

"You're not supposed to be walking." Edward's frown is forceful and powerful.

"Sorry." Louis rushes to apologise, not wanting the plan to spoil so early.

Edward just kisses his forehead and makes an angry grumble. "Irresponsible bastard, he is."

"No." Louis shakes his head and when Edward leans in closer, takes his chance to connect their lips.

It stays unwielding of anything more passionate for the first few seconds, Edward masking his  
surprise and Louis nearly hanging off his lip to get attention. There's a drop in noise levels until  
complete haunting silence is achieved, then a skyrocket in temperature when Edward picks Louis  
up and holds him against the door.

"What are you doing, petal?" His scorching gaze burns its path into Louis' calm composure,  
scratching beneath the surface.

Louis is silent and he tries turning away but Edward won't be having any of that. He slaps Louis'  
thigh and the boy mewls, head snapping back towards him.

"Did that hurt?" Edward checks, not for sympathy but for reassurance that it _did hurt._

Nodding lazily, Louis refuses to sacrifice the eye contact they have. He crosses the distance  
between them and his lips land on Edward's again, eager and anticipating. His thighs are upheld  
against muscular legs and he whimpers when Edward bites his tongue. It's a shock of something  
elicit that turns Louis into an addict.

"What do you want me to say, petal?"

Louis' confusion shows through his frown. "Say yes."  
"Anything for you, petal."

* * * * *

"So Zayn......and you are friends with benefits?" Niall has deemed this hospital his second home by  
his sixteenth hour present in it. "Or co-workers with benefits rather."

Liam rubs his hands together for warmth, accepting a sip from Niall's Rooibos cup. "Were. I have  
you now, duckling."

"Damn straight, Payne." He curls a bit of Liam's hair behind his ear as he gets softer, briefly  
amused.

"Would you mind if he was here?"

"No." Niall said honestly. "You're working together and that's okay."

Liam leans over the chairs' armrests to kiss him quickly. "You're so brilliant, duckling."

"Of course I am. Where will he be staying?"

"After he's discharged, probably in the same hotel as us."

"Us?"

"Well yeah. You can't go back to that apartment ever, not you or Louis." Liam says firmly.

Niall smiles at him tiredly. "Thank you, Li."

* * * * *

The lights were completely off and Louis could barely make it to see his own hands in the darkness.  
Curtains drawn and doors locked meant he had nowhere to hide from what he's started. He's never  
been more excited or exposed to an atmosphere more electrically charged with arousal than this. It  
should be lethal. It should turn him to pudding and leave him a spilt mess on the Styles bed.

"Here, petal." One of them takes Louis' palm in theirs and he follows mindlessly until his bare feet  
touches the cold stub of a sofa's leg. "Bend over."

It's not an ordinary command that all it does is make him shiver. The culprit had touched his thigh  
and that hand slid up to his back, a chest pressing against him and _making_ him fall forward.  
He'd made no noise and his hands were positioned properly on the sofa's back rest.

A cold breath flew out of his body when a second pair of hands - it had to be because someone was  
slipping something around his eyes - landed on his calves. His legs are lifted and spread, his knees  
digging into the seat of the couch. He could really see nothing from the blindfold over his eyes,  
adrenaline pumping into his veins.

When he dared to straighten up, an arm would press around his front and push him back,  
_make_ him submit. He loved it so much and his lips were always parted in case he forgot to  
breathe. 

They weren't done with the restraints because something slipped around his wrists, cold and thin  
plastic of the cable tie. His hands were given separate ones, a threat lingering over the entire act. He  
could scream and shudder from the raw, unmanageable energy soaring through him.

"The rules, petal." Edward stepped up behind him, holding his hips and lining their bodies up with a  
honey warm voice against his skin. "Don't resist. Don't come until I say."

"We punish, petal." Harry was somewhere in front of him, feeding his dependence when he cupped  
his face and kissed him roughly. Louis kissed him back with eager notions in his head, suffering a  
whimper when Harry withdrew. "We love to punish."

Edward's lips made contact with Louis' shoulder, travelling across to the other and dipping into his  
neck. The skin that was sliding against his, made Louis dig his nails into the couch's fabric, the hot  
and hardening length of that twin slipping into the crack of his behind where it was exposed and  
stretched.

Louis shivered and Harry recaptured his lips, bringing the boy up to his level. When Louis followed  
him higher, arms circling the man's neck, he cried out from a smack to his bum. He fell back down  
and almost hit his chin, blood turning to lava and switching over to ice. Righting himself once  
again, he wished he could see something at all.

"Open your mouth, darlin'." Harry pressed his lower abdomen to Louis' lips, the boy's kisses  
landing on his abs.

Obediently Louis did so and he he knew what was coming, his inner conscience doing somersaults  
from the fact itself. Just as Harry's hard member touched his lips, moisture from precome drippling  
onto his teeth, Edward shoved two fingers into him.

It was unceremonious and hasty the way Edward forced his fingers past the barrier of Louis' rim,  
letting them sit as deep inside as they'd reach. He had Louis spread out and could abuse his hole all  
he wanted, but he was going to be patient.

Harry filled Louis' mouth with the size of his stiff shaft, the girth causing Louis' cheeks to puff out  
and his throat to clench when it passed his gag reflex.

Fingers threaded through his hair and Harry's hips pulled out before jerking forward and pushing all  
the way in. Choking, Louis coughed and tears formed in his eyes but he took it like a champ. He  
hollowed his cheeks and flicked his tongue over the entire surface, unable to touch but trying to  
please anyway.

Edward finally moved his fingers after Louis' body loosened to accept him, creating muted  
squelching noises with his pumping motions. He jabbed Louis' tunnel and lubed everything up with  
the saliva he had used, digging in mercilessly to find the spot he sought. Louis moaned loudly and it  
sent vibrations up Harry's spine, getting the man to groan appreciatively.

Everything was too much but too little. Louis' greedy body, sitting with loads of lust, wanted to be  
held down and fucked until he couldn't see clearly. He had to be patient, he knew that, but he didn't  
want to be.

Louis got to suckle and swallow around the head of Harry's member when a third finger was joining  
the first two inside him. He rolled his hips back whenever Edward retracted his fingers, but that  
wasn't allowed and Edward would grab his ass like a naked handle and shove him forward. He got a  
second spanking, this time one on each side, and Louis' skin was prickling with the static sting  
afterwards.

Harry pulled out at the same time Edward did. Louis got eager again and in his blinded, bare state  
wanted to scramble onto someone's lap. He stayed in position with a mildly tender bum and  
insufficiently stretched entrance, waiting for the next best thing.

"You're so eager, petal." Someone petted his hair and tightened at the base of his neck, forcing him  
to look up even if he couldn't see. "I can feel it. Your body doesn't know what it's gotten itself into."

Louis didn't answer because he feared he'd say the wrong thing. He drew in long breaths when the  
warmth of another body knocked his feet apart to stand between them. His own erection was  
neglected and hanging heavy between his legs, getting no friction but weeping a salty substance that  
stained the couch and cushions.

His back was arched by a hand flattened over it, causing the curve to dip even more until it was on  
the brink of painful. It's all he concentrated on, welcoming this aspect. Nails gyrating against woven  
fabric, Louis felt the head of a fully erect length against his hole. It teasingly pressed in before  
pulling out, just to do it again. Again and again. Once more then again.

He got annoyed with the teasing, impatient to have the whole thing buried painfully deep in him.  
Without thinking, his body fell back onto half the full length, a gasp filling his ears as it slowly  
stretched him. His body expanded after a fingering that wasn't enough, trying to accommodate all of  
this.

"Greedy." It had to be Harry who was behind and in him, now biting his shoulder and slamming all  
the way in. "Daddy's got a greedy boy?"

Louis listened to the voice of his present lover, their bodies matching in stance. He didn't know if he  
was allowed to speak but he was tempted to.

"I asked a question, petal." Harry hasn't moved, hasn't started the rhythm that will have Louis losing  
his mind.

"N-No, Daddy." He stuttered unimpressively, hating how cracked his voice sounded.

"You're allowed to be greedy, baby. Daddy will give you anything."

The protective shell of Harry's body over Louis' is suddenly gone and he's left with a rush of cold  
air winding all around him. He shivers and blinks behind the blindfold, wondering where Edward is.  
He's not supposed to be thinking, as that is proven seconds later when Harry empties his flushed  
body.

A brutal pace is set as it beats the thoughts right out of Louis' scattered mind. He gasps and pants  
and chokes all at the same time, compiling a soundtrack of mindless sounds that fill his sense of  
hearing. His body jerks and back lashes with Harry's thrusts, hands securing his waist and keeping  
him bent as it gets worse.

The worse is better and Louis feels the pounding against his prostrate, as deep as it can go and  
wanting it to split him open. Edward didn't open him up enough but even that burn is a strong  
constituent towards why he feels like he's just a trembling mass. He scrapes the couch and his knees  
itch but that's not important, nowhere near as vital Harry's c*ck invading his body the way it is.  
Hips slam against his ass and Louis feels the repercussions of earlier flooding back, adding more  
sensitivity. He groans through clenched teeth, taking it all and burying it safely.

Harry is pleasured by him extensively, loving the tightening of Louis' walls and the sometimes  
rough dryness of tissue that wasn't lubricated enough. He grips Louis' bum so it fills his one hand  
and continues to pound into the boy but not letting him sag in exhaustion.

"Missed me, petal?" Edward was at Louis' ear, moving over to be in front of him. "I know you want  
to come. Don't or I'll have to stop you from coming at all."

As if catching a hint of something Louis missed, Harry's hand creeps around the front and grips his  
needy erection near his sack so he can't come. Louis whines pitifully and gets the head of Edward's  
dick in his mouth, warning him before slowly slipping more in.

"Take it, petal. I can tell you want to taste all of it."

Harry doesn't let himself come either, using Louis' body to get really close but stopping before his  
release. The fast bucks stop and Louis uses his hand to take all of Edward in his mouth. He doesn't  
want the amorous processions to stop, so he pumps the area he can't reach before gagging and  
purposely trying to take that in too.

"Good boy, petal." Edward adores Louis' preen from the compliment. He's not unaffected by this  
boy, and having his mouth on him is destructive enough.

"He's always a good boy." Harry kisses Louis' hole, leaning down to do it. It's bruised and if the  
lights were on he'd be able to see the reddened state of Louis' tunnel from his inability to close up.

"Oh yes. I know." Edward chuckles - Louis wants to glare at him - and almost balds Louis with how  
tight his grip is on his hair. "You can come, petal."

Harry unleashes his tongue on Louis' hole, fitting some of it in easily and forming a steady suction  
around it. He knows Louis doesn't need much stimulus, that he'll come apart any time now. In this  
frame of mind, he starts to taste what he's left behind in Louis and with a sudden shudder, Louis  
screams as he comes onto the cushions. Edward let's him ride it out, pleased when Louis takes him  
back in his mouth before the wave of a climax has even passed.

Licking and suckling, Louis even left pecks on the length as he tried to bless every inch with some  
contact from him. He feels like marshmallow inside and Harry isn't removing his mouth from where  
he's getting higher and higher with nerves.

"Enough, petal." Edward pulls him off, Louis' thin lips having turned red and puffy. "You did very  
well."

Louis licks his lips and it's obscene, tasting both brothers on them as Edward watched transfixed.  
He surges forward and slots their lips together for a kiss that bumps Louis' nose and makes him  
keen.

"You need to take us both, petal." Harry is biting on his lower back, making Louis hiss from the  
small injuries that were already there. 

_Yes._ Louis, overcoming the shivers of one orgasm, prepares his body for another. He makes  
a tiny upset noise when he isn't once again taken control of.

"Hush." Edward pecks his lips and let's Louis rest against his shoulder. "Harry."

Harry's mouth detaches from Louis' sweaty skin like a stubborn leech and he circles a saliva coated  
finger around Louis' hole. He can fit three in easily, which he does without hesitation. He rapidly  
pumps those appendages in and out of Louis' quivering body until he's satisfied, adding a fourth and  
continuing.

The friction against Louis' raw walls is intoxicating and exhilarating, catching Louis between  
wanting to run and stay. He starts kissing Edward's neck and sucks on his Adam's Apple to give  
himself a distraction from the burn, his wrists held by one of Edward's hands. He makes it to  
Edward's chest before Harry's thumb slips into him as well and suddenly he's plunged forward into  
a well of something dark and dirty.

With a whole hand fitted within him, Louis can no longer focus on anything else and ends up  
mouthing weakly at the dip between Edward's pectorals. He moves with the thrusts of Harry's hand,  
filled to a maximum point until it _hurts_ and he falls in love with it. It feels like Harry's  
punching his prostate to get his member to fill up with blood again, repeatedly prodding at the  
swollen gland for a response. Louis feels himself twitch and latches onto Edward's chest, keeping  
himself grounded that way.

He's breathing thick air and exhaling icy remains. He is left to primal instinct and lost in a  
wonderland of erotica. There's no turning back even when Harry pulls out and he's left a gaping  
mess between them.

"Now, petal." Edward is gone and so is Harry. Louis knows they're there, can hear even their heavy  
breathing.

Out of nowhere - and because he's at a heavy disadvantage with blindfolded eyes - he's grabbed  
around the middle and hauled to his feet. He barely touches the ground before he's yanked into the  
air, settling in a perfect fit against someone's chest. His legs are held apart by being bent over the  
bend of their elbows, the strength they possess holding him well above the ground.

"Make all the noise you want, baby." Harry tells him from behind, lined up with Edward and him.

Edward was holding him like a floatation device, Harry stepping up behind him to straighten his  
back and sandwich him between them. His back to Harry's chest and his chest to Edward's. He  
holds the nape of Edward's neck and when Harry kisses his neck, his too.

There's no chance of Louis slipping in the slightest because he was held together so tightly, so  
possessively by them both. He enjoyed the compact heat from their bodies and felt hopefully  
endeared by how both their hands found spots on him to hold. The stretch of his body _down  
there_ was not forgotten, for every moment that past he got more needy.

First was Harry, and as he sunk in Louis threw his head back in the limited space he was allowed.  
He let out a long moan that winded up in a whimper once Harry was fully seated. Teeth were at his  
neck, and sharper ones at his nipple. He curled his fingers and toes, his body ready.

Edward was guided in by Harry, going slower than Harry did. Inch by inch he buried himself in  
Louis alongside his brother, feeling like this is the only place in the world he should be. He   
separates his jaws and bites down around Louis' nipple, causing a faint trickle of blood and shriek  
from his victim. His tongue lapped at the metallic taste, removing his mouth so his fingers could  
coax more out.

Harry rolled his hips against Louis' ass, blowing out hot air into the boy's neck. He fucked upward  
when Edward did and they took up every bit of space within him, not letting Louis breathe properly  
once. Louis cried out and his jaw went slack, letting himself feel the slow rhythm getting captured  
by his insides.

They thrusted together and each found patches of skin to mark up with their nails, teeth and lips.  
Edward left bruises with how tight he was grasping the boy's thighs, Harry by how demonically  
harsh his grip was on Louis' waist. They were sheathed inside their lover and found no more peace  
in life besides what lay here. Louis gasped and plucked at the air, needing it but not wanting it from  
anyone but the twins.

He bit his own lip and sold his soul to the burning sensation of his thighs and where his body was  
widening inexplicably. It was so good and so ruthless.

"Fuck!" Harry muttered as he stilled and tensed, shooting his load directly at Louis' prostate which  
in turn made Louis screech and come onto his tummy.

He'd never felt that before, the splash of warm seed on his insides so deep that it milked him of an  
early orgasm. Edward grunted, muffled by Louis' collarbones that he religiously worshipped. He  
felt his brother's seed leaking onto him and had to fight the bloody devil to keep his own release  
contained.

"Felt so good, petal." Harry nuzzled him beneath his ear, nipping at the bone.

Louis knew Edward was going to be mad at him and he clenched around them both, causing a groan  
in unison. "I-I'm sorry. I-I-"

"Shh." Edward sealed his lips with a kiss. "You're forgiven."

Relaxing, Louis finally gets to the massacre below his waist. He doesn't want to check on himself  
because he knows he's ruined down there. He breathes harshly and tries to control his own  
sensitivity but it's close to miserably impossible with the way he's spread open by two people.  
Harry pulls out his softened length and Louis is left clinging to Edward to keep from falling.  
Edward has much greater willpower than Harry does and Louis sort of wants to break that. If he  
could make Harry come, he can certainly try with Edward.

His sensitivity makes him complain whenever there's an unjustified movement affecting his lower  
region. He very bravely squeezes his eyes shut and brings himself closer Edward, sliding his arms  
around his neck and his chest slipping lower until he's got the man bottomed out.

Louis feels ticklish where something dripped out of him, falling down from his thighs but the  
majority of Harry's come staying plugged in him. He was being moved again, and this time towards  
the bed hopefully. His back hits the cold bed sheet and he sighs contentedly, happy to lightly scratch  
his chest and turn into something malleable.

He arches his back when it gets too uncomfortable for his bum, Edward's hand sneaking its way  
there too. Rather than easing pressure, Edward starts to play with him where he's leaking and enters  
a fingertip into the boy.

"N-N-No." Louis pushes at his chest. It's too soon after two rounds to go again.

Edward starts to _rub_ him there and it's so vigorous that Louis can't fight him anymore. He  
goes pliant and Edward retracts his hand, pressing it to Louis' lips so he can taste.

The man isn't done with him though because a minute after pulling out, he's cloaking Louis' body  
like a canopy and cradling his head with his arm. "We have to do something about my brother's  
disobedience, petal. Will you help me?"

Louis' interest picks up at this question and wishes he could see Edward's face at that moment. He  
can only feel the slow trickle of warmth escaping him between his thighs and squirms at how open  
he feels.

"I-I'll help." Louis surrenders, knowing even now it's a dangerously alluring choice.

"Yeah, petal?" Edward's lips press a warm and rewarding kiss to his cheek. "You'll help me, baby?"

Louis nods as many times as he thinks it will take to convince Edward. "Y-Yes."

"Daddy."

Louis goes blank. "H-uh?"

"Yes, _Daddy_."

Louis wants to scream from rooftops because he gets _two_ Daddies and it makes what alter  
ego may reside in this powerful hidden personality very happy.

His higher brain power is overcome with the need to obey as he was tucked into a perfect little cove  
of submission. "Yes, Daddy."


	19. Chapter Nineteen

**His higher brain power is overcome with the need to obey as he was tucked into a perfect little  
cove of submission. "Yes, Daddy."**

***NARRATOR'S POV***

The blindfold was removed and the colour under Louis' eyelids turned from black to grey. Louis  
stares up into the eyes of the man hovering over him like a net of human weight and emotion. He  
felt like cornered prey between Edward's arms and underneath him, wrapped up by body heat or  
unimaginable rampant hormones make his green eyes black.

Waiting for a response, Louis took the time to check his body and emotional state. He was on fire in  
the latter, his thoughts flying by without giving him the right amount of time to think logically. He  
did as told because of this, relying on the twins to tell him the right thing and keep him safe.  
His body was feeling better, completely fired up on adrenaline he didn't think he could store. The  
surface of his skin felt magnetically inclined to Edward's or Harry's, his lower half pleasantly sore  
but nowhere near being sated if there's more in store for him.

"Come here, petal." A voice off to his left called out to him, and his ears pricked at the sound.

He turned in that direction and pre-braced his palms on Edward's chest, ready to push him away if  
the motivation was great enough. Harry was waiting for him to obey at the other end of the  
Herculean bed, his hand outstretched in beckoning.

* * * * *

"He's awake?" Liam double checked by asking the Dr. Parkens who came to find him and Niall  
exiting the cafeteria.

"He asked for Liam Payne." The doctor replied, tapping his clipboard and smiling politely.

"That's me. Uh-" Liam threaded his fingers through his hair, looking at Niall. "Can we both go?"

"What?" Niall interrupted.

"You both may." Dr. Parkens says anyway after Liam doesn't offer an answer. "Nothing too loud or  
bright. He's just had a mild concussion and a few broken ribs so he'll be capable of speaking as  
normal."

"Alright, thank you." Liam reached out and shook Dr. Parkens' hand. "Come on, duckling."

"Hey Crazy, I'm Niall." His partner pulled his hand free of Liam's when the surgeon left. "I can't  
come with you in there."

"Why not?" Liam's smile was crooked and adorably sexy but that's not the point in Niall's head.  
"Because I don't know him? He doesn't know me? He could die because he'll think a stranger is-"

"Calm down, doll." Liam smacks a kiss on Niall's temple. "Zayn will learn all about you."

"What if I don't like him?"

Liam smirks to a secret knowing he already has about Zayn's physical charm. "Everyone loves  
Zayn."  
center  
* * * * *

Louis knew he had to escape Edward's hold, but it wasn't too difficult when he was allowed to go  
freely. He crawled out of the enveloping presence and made his way over to Harry, getting scooped  
up off the mattress immediately.

Harry cradles Louis' face on the right side, pushing his hair back and directing his attention in the  
process. Louis was so captivating with his wide eyes focused all on him, obediently doing as told.  
Harry patted Louis' thigh before securing it with his hand, a finger dipping between his cheeks to  
where the boy was growing sticky over the pink skin of his darkened hole.

Edward got to disrupting their moment when he'd figured out what he was going to do. He made  
Harry set Louis down on the floor, leaning against him for support, and smaller hands than his  
holding his waist. Edward circled a heavy arm around the back of Louis' head and kept him  
immobile, kissing his forehead.

"Lie down." He told Harry next, nodding towards the bed.

Wordlessly, Harry did so. Louis watched with innate curiosity and squirmed a little in Edward's  
arms at how lonely Harry looked. Edward leaned down and nipped at his permanent bite scar on  
Louis' neck.

"If you go to him, petal, you can't come back until I'm done." He pressed his wet lips to the shell of  
Louis' ear as he spoke in a husky monotone.

Louis was willing to take that deal, because Harry was looking at him with unreadable eyes that told  
him to _at least try._ So he did. When Edward unwrapped his arm, Louis made his way  
carefully onto the bed and straddled Harry's hips gracefully. It was like having an angel on his lap,  
and Harry thought himself to be the darkest demon which made this experience all the more  
religious.

Harry touched Louis' soft, delicate hips, marking some of the skin with his nails and wanting to do  
more. Wanting to carve his name everywhere and bite deep enough with blunt teeth that Louis  
screeched loud enough for the whole town the hear. He withheld that deep fantastical nature to  
watch Edward lean closer and whisper in Louis' ear.

The boy giggled and rolled his hips in a very subtle manner that could have been an accident, but  
Harry's c*ck took notice and started to harden again. He bit down his groan and squeezed the bone  
of Louis' pelvic region, getting the boy to whimper and hide in Edward's neck. 

"Shh, sweetheart." Edward kissed Louis' cheekbone, sharp as a blade, and moved away. He  
regarded Harry with a familiar look representing the fire hot want. "Hands above your head."

Harry raises his arms over his head and Edward stands to knot them to the bed railing, tossing  
pillows aside to make room. They were tight but getting tighter as Edward finished, hurting Harry's  
wrists in the most pleasant way.

Louis hasn't stopped shifting, grinding or simply twitching on Harry's hips over his fattening  
member. All the stimulation from a God-like creature perched on his naked body was more than  
enough to get Harry to respond accordingly.

"What are you doing up there, petal?" He asked when Louis actually wiggled for a purpose, to  
move onto Harry's thighs so his pulsating hardness slapped against his abdomen from it's home  
nestled against Louis.

"Petal?" Edward called second, but Louis looked to him first anyway.

He must have done something silently because Louis never answered Harry after that. Edward  
retired to their closet again where a large gap of shelves and cupboards lay empty to accommodate  
Louis' phantom clothing. Soon enough.

* * * * *

Liam knocks on the hospital room door with his knuckles and is still trying to keep Niall from  
outright running away. He keeps him caged with his arm as a security measure.

"What the fuck?" Niall whispers in the voice of a ghost.

"I know." Liam chuckled.

Zayn was on his back but his face turned towards the far wall, only the deadliest structure of jaw  
and cheekbone on display from where they could see. His skin was such light brown with facial hair  
developing in the perfect order on his chin. The hollow of his cheeks was evident without being  
ghastly and his eyebrows were bushy to complement every perfectly carved feature on his face.

"Hey, Zee." Liam wouldn't be having any more trouble getting Niall through the door.

Zayn 'Zee' Malik looks at where the voice came from, instantly the sad line of his lips turning into a  
smile. "Liam, you fucking bastard."

Liam nudges Niall into the room - he's still a flight risk - and follows after him. "How are you  
feeling?"

"Like I was hit by a fuckin' car. Oh wait-"

"Shut up." Liam narrows his eyes and frowns. "You know how bad I feel, Zee. I never would have  
asked you to-"

"No, it's alright. It's none of your fault." Zayn's smile moves from Liam to the person hiding behind  
Liam. "And who is this that is afraid of a hospitalised person?"

"This is-"

Niall can very well introduce himself to Greek Gods. He steps out from behind Liam but still holds  
the man's arm. "I'm Niall. Liam calls me duckling which you cannot."

Liam hides his amusement by sitting down, letting Niall take the reins on this animated  
conversation. Niall ignores the other chair and labels it a spare as he sits on Liam's lap. He deems  
himself a possessive duckling.

"I'm Zayn." Zayn's laughter is as magical as every other profoundly sculpted feat and trait about  
him. It's loud and musical and makes everyone want to listen. "And aren't you adorable, ducky."

"Ew." Niall's nose scrunches up on his face. "That's a terrible rendition, Zayn."

Liam takes the small white remote that controls the positioning of Zayn's bed. He gets him into a  
more upright angle and he can tell it's far more comfortable for Zayn.

"I quite like it. Sorry, ducky." Zayn licks his dry lips and reveals his arms from under the hospital  
blanket.

They're a little thin but the muscle from the physical check of a police detective is still evident,  
easily marking him as someone dominant in the world's society.

"So what did I come down here for, Liam?" Zayn was eager to start work. He was told that after two  
or three days he'd be out of here.

"Don't worry about that now." Liam shakes his head instead, Niall tucking his hair behind his ear.

"You need to recuperate."

"Seriously, Li. Why did you call me?"

"And I'm serious too. Drop it."

"I'm not a cripple."

"No but you were in a car accident." Liam allows Niall to rest his head on his shoulder, facing the  
wall instead of them. "We're going to keep incidents to a minimal."

Zayn glares at Liam's idiocy. He's a grown fucking man and he can handle any damn thing. "I've  
been in the field as long as you have, Liam."

"Yes and that's why I'm most qualified to tell you to simmer down."

"Simmer down?" Zayn's heart monitor gets a little louder.

"Yes." Liam points to the ECG screen and sighs. "Please just take it easy, Zee. I can't have you  
dying on me."

"I'm _fine._ Don't treat me like a baby, Payne."

"You are in fact a giant baby, Zee. Everyone knows that." 

"I don't know that." Niall chirps from his small presence in the room, going back to Liam's hair  
immediately.

"You'll learn all about me in good time, ducky." Zayn responds with that glint of something amused  
but also admiring in a lesser reputable manner in his intention.

Niall takes protection against Liam's chest again, hiding from this new person's dark brown and  
alluring eyes. What is _wrong_ with him?

"I don't think your love over there likes me very much." Zayn comments off handedly, picking up  
the pudding cup from his food tray.

Liam looks at Niall fondly and Niall in return scowls at him like he's crazy. "He's a tough one.  
Worth it though."

Niall cooes in Liam's ear and pecks his cheek. "How sweet, Li."

He soon spots Zayn going to throw away pudding in the bin though and all that affection for anyone  
flies out the window.

"What kind of person throws pudding away?" He sounds more outraged than he should be about  
_pudding._

Zayn seems to be caught off guard and doesn't know if Niall is serious about the glare he's passing  
to him. "Uh...-"

"You're not allowed to throw pudding away." Niall wakes up from Liam's lap and goes to Zayn,  
taking the plastic cup from him. "It's a criminal offence and you, of all people, should be knowing  
that."

Stumped, Zayn looks at Liam who shrugs and cracks his knuckles as he stretches. "I'm going to get  
some coffee. Want anything, Ni?"

Niall shakes his head, peeling the metallic tab off the pudding cup. Liam asks Zayn and gets the  
same response, just a little more frozen. He's going to get a beverage for Niall anyway so that it  
doesn't end in him sacrificing his drink.

Zayn clears his throat after Liam leaves, the dryness growing. "Would you like a spoon, ducky?"

"I'd appreciate it." Niall's attitude towards him seems to have changed completely, smiling sweetly  
as he took the plastic utensil.

Thinking through his strategy to figure this person out, bright and able to emit a light in any dark  
room from within, Zayn straightens up and winces only briefly at the pain in his mid-section. Niall  
was carefree but he had a struggle, that much was obvious. He shifts to the side away from where  
Niall is leaning, making space for the boy to sit on.

"Don't I get a thank you?" Zayn asks, smirking at Niall's face with a spoonful of pudding in his  
mouth.

Niall takes the now clean spoon out. "You really want one?"

"It has no meaning if I have to ask for it."

"Good thing I won't say it now then, huh?" Niall grins at him, scooping up more chocolate pudding  
from the surface. One should savour pudding at all times.

"No manners is unattractive, ducky."

"I'm not trying to attract anyone, Zayn-ul." Niall adds the last bit to make it more emphasising of  
the Islamic heritage. "I'm eating pudding."

"I find that very attractive."

Niall rolls his eyes. "Don't flirt. I'm already taken, mister."

Zayn makes sure he's extra close to Niall, hurting his ribs in the process but not caring. "Liam and I  
have shared before."

Niall will probably be kicked out for it but he slaps Zayn anyway, freeing his hands of pudding and  
cutlery to storm off. He is _not_ meat that can be shared or even- wait. What about Louis?  
Wasn't his life split in two?

He stands outside while Zayn rubs his cheek, tapping his foot on the floor and getting more worked  
up.

Was he justified in being outraged and slapping Zayn across the face? He sure was. What Louis did  
was not his business anymore beyond the care of a best friend. He didn't want what Louis had or  
wanted, and having two boyfriends will kill him.

Maybe he should talk to Louis? Ask him what it's like?

_No._ That is not for him. He wants one other person in his life, just a single one.  
It's an outrageous thing to even think about, but the seed has been planted and it won't leave him  
alone. As it germinates, he's dragged to a frame of mind where this is a real and accepted thing.  
_Two_ boyfriends? Would Liam be okay with that? He's only just met Zayn and the idiot could  
be a complete psychopath. Dammit Louis.

Niall huffs and crosses his arms, rattled with thoughts of opportunity and choice when Liam comes  
back with two cups of steaming coffee.

He notices Niall's expression and walks faster, concerned about his duckling's well-being. "You  
okay, Ni?"

"No." Niall snaps, getting embraced for comfort. "Your friend is an imbecil. I hate him. He's not  
your friend anymore."

"Oh?" Liam frowns as he tries to think of what Zayn could have done. "What did he do, love?"

"He flirted with me."

_Two boyfriends._ Diabolical bastard.

Liam's broad shoulders are shaking with laughter rather than the usual jealous boyfriend vibes.  
"Zayn flirts with everyone, duckling. It's just a thing about him."

"No." Niall holds onto Liam's jacket. "He said you and him....-"

"Me and him?"

Niall gets a small moment to think it over. If Liam isn't objecting then....what could it mean? He  
might have a chance at one Hell of a fling or something more. The rational half of his mind sneers  
at him. Yeah, _something more_ being walking down the street holding two hands and kissing  
two mouths.

"Share." He mumbles it into Liam's chest. "He said that you and he used to share....partners or  
whatever."

Liam does tense up and it gives Niall such _hope_ because he's honestly scared of considering  
an option that's out of his comfort zone. Liam, however, is troubled by another demon of his past.  
He has too many demons, it seems.

"That's....-" Liam starts but his voice dies out.

This wouldn't be sharing to him, oh no. If such a thing could happen, like Niall finding anything he  
desires in Zayn to keep him around, it would simply mean more love and affection for his duckling.  
"Li?" Niall rests his chin on Liam's hard chest, looking up at him. "What are you thinking?"

"I'm thinking-" Liam gulps. "-would you consider it?"

* * * * *

Harry's breath whistled through his teeth when he inhaled sharply, the contact of Louis' hand on his  
member causing it. Louis experimentally ran his hand from head to base, twisting his wrist and  
repeating the motion. He loved the feel of hard and hot skin in his hand, Harry bucking up into it  
when he did the right thing. It gave him power to please his Daddy.

"Fuck, petal." Harry strained against his tie-ups to watch, getting close to popping his shoulder from  
the stretch. "Like that, baby."

Louis kept up his pace, taking his time when he wanted and never using his mouth. He bit his lip  
and looked at Harry through his lashes, resembling the minx of Harry's dreams with such  
unconventional innocence. Harry wanted to swap places with that purity and pound into it until it  
became seared with his claim.

"P-Petal." Harry was finding it difficult to hold on to his fast approaching orgasm.

"Yes, Daddy?" Louis was all sweet sugar voice and batting eyelashes. He'll be the death of Harry. 

"Can you get me inside you, petal?" Harry tugged on his restraints but they were perfectly tied.

Louis shook his head and continued jerking Harry off, moving faster and teasing the swollen head  
with his thumb. He circled the slit and dug his finger in, making Harry's hips stutter and for a loud  
groan to erupt from him.

"Wh-Why not, petal? Daddy wants to come inside you, baby." Harry tried again.

Taking pity on him, Louis thought an appropriate reward for Harry holding out this long would be  
to bend and kiss away the droplets of salty precome from his shaft. He traced his tongue over the  
swollen slit, kissing a path down, down and to his balls. His lips engulfed one and suckled on it  
sloppily, his nails on Harry's thighs.

"F-Fuck!" Harry threw his head back when Louis switched sides and licked over the length of his  
curved erection, missing one swipe over the head.

Edward reappeared at last when Louis just stopped his less than innocent activities, the assault on  
Harry's body being a powerful muddling agent. Louis made his way back onto Harry's pelvis, the  
man's desperate length fitting between his cheeks and rubbing against his hole. Louis scratched up  
Harry's torso, delivering full grinds with his sinful hips that made the bulbous tip catch on his rim  
most often.

"Knees spread and bent." Edward told Harry next, Louis not stopping to acknowledge him.

Harry did as asked after three tries of failing. He gave Louis a his knees to sit back against and  
Edward snapped something cold and stiff around each ankle.

Edward moved to the middle of the bed's end, and grabbed Louis' waist. "Petal?"

The boy paused again and lifted off Harry. He turned around quietly and got caught up in Edward's  
lips, his teeth clashing with Edward's and tongue getting sucked into his mouth. He moaned and  
held Harry's knees, moving closer every chance he got.

"You've earned your reward, petal." Edward dropped Harry's legs and crawled between them.

"Make yourself come anyway you want."

Louis whispered a word of gratitude and pecked Edward's cheek. "You'll come in me, Daddy?"

"I promised, petal." Edward harshly grips Louis' bottom lip with his unforgiving teeth, listening to  
the boy's helpless mewl. "Don't ask again or I'll get angry, baby."

His words to the boy got Louis to bump his chin against Edward's and turn back to Harry. He  
shuffled up to the man's chest, knees bracketing Harry's armpits and explored the tough muscle with  
his fingertips. Harry bit his middle finger when Louis reached his lips, sucking the whole finger into  
his mouth and biting hard.

"Get to it, Lou." Edward rushed him from behind, between Harry's legs and doing nothing.

Louis noticed him and looked down at Harry with a small pout, withdrawing his finger feeling  
demotivated. Harry kissed Louis' palm and chuckled when the boy covered his face with his  
inadequately sized hand. 

It wasn't that Edward didn't know how to handle their petal as a Daddy, it's just that Harry knew  
how to do it differently. He could comfort and be reassuring while Edward remained a master the  
entire time. Harry's eye could peek through two fingers of Louis' and he spoke with that contact  
maintained.

"Come up here, petal. I'll take care of you." He tasted Louis' skin when his tongue darted out.

Louis smiled and removed his hand, kissing Harry's nose and doing as instructed carefully. He had  
to spread his legs a bit more on either side of Harry's head but once Harry's mouth touched ground  
on his glistening entrance, all the worry was gone.

He gasped and gripped the headboard to keep from falling forward, pressing down on Harry's  
tongue. His rim was just beginning to heal and now Harry shoved past their recovery to delve into  
Louis' sweet body with his tongue. He lifted tastes of the boy and himself, shooting vibrations  
through Louis as he moaned.

"O-Oh, _Daddy_." Louis was gyrating his hips, grinding as he rode Harry's tongue with tiny  
thrusts.

Slowly his release was getting closer, barelling towards him and bursting the veins they travelled in.  
He felt Harry's heavy breathing against him, felt the spreading of saliva and sweat on him. His body  
was tearing itself apart and his sack tightened up, ready to release what come was left.

Edward knocked Harry's legs apart further, screwing the bar restraints so they kept him spread  
eagle. He couldn't resist pressing one kiss on Louis' shoulderblade before fanning his fingers out  
over Harry's ass and pulling the pale globes apart. Harry responded by sinking his teeth into Louis'  
rim, the few from the top layer making it past the muscle and internally applying pressure.

Spitting on his fingers, Edward pushed his index finger into Harry's body past his rim and  
scratching his clamping walls. He pumps that finger in and out, burning Harry's insides with lack of  
proper lube and adding a second. He watched Harry stretch to accept him, the thighs on his left and  
right quivering.

Hastily - he's only ever careful with Louis - he extracts the fingers and sticks it in his mouth, getting  
them wetter for three this time. He uncovers Harry's prostate on the second try, watching clear  
liquid fall into his brother's belly button from where he's painfully aroused.

Louis screams when he comes, the headboard rattling with how he shook through a thunderous  
orgasm that tore him to pieces from his core. He shot white ropes onto the pillow-less mattress and  
some on Harry's hair, every ounce of strength being finally depleted. Harry wishes for his tongue to  
not turn purple from the way Louis' walls close around him, pushing him out but keeping him  
prisoner.

"Good boy, petal." He let Louis sag against him, shivering through the invasion of his body but  
trying to get Louis comfortable first. "Good boy."

His eyes slipping shut, Louis sighs and settles on Harry's chest like a content kitten. He absorbs  
every thread and electric shock of pleasure and satisfaction that accompanies his mind blowing  
orgasm, tiring him out inexplicably.

"Give me a kiss, petal." Harry tried once again to break his binds but they were so stubborn. 

Louis mumbled against Harry's pectoral and lifted his head to meet Harry's lips with his own, his  
kiss lazy but genuine. He tasted himself on Harry's lips and wet tongue, whimpering at the  
domination of his mouth. Their kiss turned deeper when Edward withdrew his three fingers and  
substituted them for his own angrily throbbing manhood.

He hasn't come once tonight and it's ruining him. He wants to fulfil his petal's wish - originally his  
life's mission - to fill him up with his seed and then Harry's when he made him come.

"Lou?" Edward's length slid in smoothly, extra spit from his fingers and palm aiding the movement.

Turning his head, Louis swallowed his whine to complain about the vivid soreness of his bum.

"Daddy?"

"Can you come again, petal?" He feels the ritualistic shudder of Harry around him, fully sheathing  
himself in him now.

Harry curled his fingers until they pained at the knuckles and muttered a curse under his breath,  
concentrating on clenching around his brother in a rhythm that he liked.

Louis shook his head to answer Edward's question. He made the man stop in his cruelly slow  
retraction when he brought himself closer to him. "C-Can't."

Edward held Harry's legs down with both hands, bringing his mouth to Louis' as he pulled out and  
slammed back in when Louis moved backward. He grunted into the boy's mouth repetitively, his  
waist pivoting in and out, back and forth. One hand touched Louis' middle, then yanked him  
forward to press their chests together.

He continued thrusting like a man on fire, snaking an arm around Louis' slender waist and not  
letting the boy escape when he started resisting. His kiss broke Louis' fight and forced him to  
submit to Edward's will. He reached down and tested how stretched Louis was, wet and open  
although strongly sensitively.

"N-No, Daddy- I-I-" Louis was stopped by his body being thrown down in a degree, impaling  
himself on Harry's c*ck as Edward intended.

"Don't." Edward caught him by both sides of his face. His black eyes were turning bloodshot as he  
ordered Louis' to stop tearing up. "Just one more time, baby."

Louis had no choice but to take only a minute and let himself adjust. It would hurt. It would hurt so  
badly because he's ready bet every dime he has that he doesn't have anything left in him.  
He couldn't wait for that to be sufficient as he sniffled and rejected Edward's kiss when he lifted his  
hips. They struggled with his exhaustion and he wanted to fall asleep more than anything else. He  
wasn't even getting hard again.

"Be still then, petal." Edward changed his mind out of sympathy, seating Louis on Harry's member  
rather than making him move. "Let him come inside you."

Harry was close, Hellishly close with the way his tunnel was swelling up with moist glands and  
accepting the punishing thrusts of Edward's pounding. It beat against his walls and bruised his  
insides but he let it happen because he deserved it and loved the pain that would make him sore   
tomorrow. Louis kept his length warm, not shifting too much, and it was a sensation that was  
rapidly spreading to every inch of him.

"I'm sorry, baby." Edward framed Louis' cheek, kissing his forehead and chin to cover the distance  
in between.

Louis gave him a small smile to convey that he was a little okay with it. He. held onto Harry's  
knees, digging his nails into the bone when he man twitched inside him. Edward thrusted once,  
twice and again with strength that would bruise Louis externally and cause damage in him if it were  
used on him.

"F-Fuck- Close!" Harry shouted, neck arching with his back so the thick artery under the skin  
reached out.

He came as soon as Edward stopped, buried to the hilt inside Harry and against his spot that was so  
much deeper in him amongst the folds of tight tissue.

Harry's body was wrecked with shudders and violent shaking, ending not even after he gave Louis'  
body everything he had. Louis hissed and cut skin with his nails when Harry came against his  
abused insides, filling him up where he was empty.

Edward pulled out and pushed Louis down onto his front, landing on Harry's chest. Freeing Harry's  
dick of the boy's confines, Edward replaced the softened appendage with himself. His fists pressed  
into the mattress as he covered Louis' sprawled out body with his own, pushing in so deep that  
Louis cried out and shifted upward with him.

"Be still." He secured Louis' flushed, overheated skin as it squirmed between his and Harry's. "Be  
still, petal."

His growl was branded into Louis' neck, eyes screwed shut as he bore the brunt of his overly  
anticipated orgasm. It hit him like a truck and he suffered in trying not to hurt Louis as he released  
copious amounts of his seed into the boy. He didn't move for a whole minute, his come flooding  
Louis' system after waiting all night to do so.

Louis felt like everything from his waist down was drenched in come, soaking it all in to be taken  
over by the mark and ultra protectiveness of his unique lovers. Internally and externally he was now  
belonging to them.

Harry shifts first, unable to move beneath the masses of two bodies and his arms tied up. "Edward."

Edward is close to knocked out cold on Louis' back, the soft skin and sweet scent getting under his  
nerves and soothing them to sleep. "Yeah."

He gets up, pulling himself out of Louis with a cautious attempt. There's a drawer to their left that  
moves as he shuffles around in it, searching for that one thing that will serve a good purpose. It  
comes to him in the form of a dark purple and glitterless butt plug, small enough to keep Louis from  
leaking.

"Petal?" Edward tries to rouse the boy before he puts it in.

"He's asleep." Harry answers, having watched Louis pass out minutes ago. "Let him sleep."

Edward lubes up the plug by sticking it in his mouth after a short trip to the bathroom to wash it.  
Everything they used on and with Louis was brand new, never having let someone into their  
bedroom before. He inserts it with a confident pop at signalling it's now snugly fitted in place. Louis  
makes a sound in his slumber as Harry separates them after being untied.

"Go to bed." Harry tells Edward when his sibling tries to continue with the duties of a clean-up. "I'll  
wipe him."

"We can't sleep on the bed." Edward messes up his hair with his fingers, combing through it  
afterwards. "We need to get it cleaned."

"Okay."

Harry knows all the pillows and sheets are clean from when they removed it earlier, so he lays out a  
flatter version of their bed on the floor with more blankets from the closet. Two thick blankets on  
the ground and somewhere near a dozen feather pillows at the side that would be the head.  
He uses a warm flannel from the bathroom to wipe Louis down thoroughly. The boy had marks at  
the base of his spine where Harry scratched and pinched earlier, teeth marks also blossoming on the  
supple skin. They were evidence of Harry's darkest secret.

"Not those." Harry hates black panties, especially the ones Edward got out from the closet as a  
result of their shopping earlier.

Edward loved them but Harry refused to. They were awful because all boxers were black and Louis  
wore those enough. Panties should be pink and light blue, maybe even sheer. Louis would look so  
beautiful in light panties.

"Pink will scare him, brother." Edward reasons. Black is essential for Louis' first time, he believes.

Edward slips the underwear up Louis' legs and fits them on the curve of his bum, the straps sitting  
nicely on his hips and front. He then lifts Louis off the soiled portion of their brand new mattress  
and onto their makeshift bed on the floor.

Louis is dead to the world as he sleeps now, made to lie on his front with his own two pillows  
beside Edward. Harry draws up the comforter only after he's found a comfortable spot on Louis, his  
head resting on the curve of the boy's back just above the panty's waistline. Edward kisses Louis'  
neck and pulls him in close, while Harry can't sleep despite his dwindling energy reserves and goes  
back to destroying more of Louis' perfect skin.

It's an impulse for him, a hidden talent and obsessive compulsion that hasn't come around in  
_years_. This part of him was sadistic and needed to put it's name on Louis' body.

What is beautiful he wants to taint with his own hands enough for pain but lesser than death. It was  
a beast and monstrous feeling but it was so powerful. It would take over him one day.

Now, he nuzzles Louis' back, kissing some of the unmarked tanned skin and rubbing his thumb over  
the broken skin where his pinches got too harsh.

"Mine." He whispered to himself, tracing the word on Louis' lumbar region where he would one day  
engrave it into the flesh without anything other than his bare hands.


	20. chapter Twnety

_You will know pain. You will see the true face of panic._

***NARRATOR'S POV***

Louis wakes up with the most broken of feelings running freely from his shoulders to his ankles, the  
latter now conforming to the thrilling ache of worn off painkillers. The only reason his head wasn't  
in a pit of misery is because it feels comforted and cradled by a fragranced pillow.

He didn't wish to turn around and put himself under anymore effort-requiring actions. Instead, his  
arms conceal his face as he blackens the space around him, just a sliver of light passing through the  
gap. Someone blocked his chances of getting up anyway, and it was Harry fast asleep in the curl of  
a millipede. His upper body was on Louis' back, a hand spanning out over his hip.

That's not all. Edward, the one making Louis' body surrender to his, was an all encompassing space  
heater pressed up to Louis' side. He had one of Louis' hands mixed up with his, held to Louis'  
beating heart and their fingers kept warm with the speedy rhythm.

Louis closed his eyes and welcomed more darkness, slipping into a fitful sleep right away. His  
energy levels needed replenishing and at the moment the last bar on his reserves was flashing blood  
red.

The next time he woke up he could move his legs a little to the side and let them breathe. The  
darkness of the room has not lifted one bit and Louis realises that their curtains are excellent shields  
against the sunlight so it could be any time of day now.

Sighing, he inspects from a distance the state of his ankle. It's a little more swollen that it should be,  
but there pain has subsided and he has a small amount of feeling now. He folds his arms under the  
perfect pillow he's occupying, careful not to knock Edward in the face as he does, and hears a  
satisfying 'pop' in his back.

He relaxed again down amongst the pool of sheets that had been suspiciously laid out on the floor,  
not at all disgraced with himself on how he got here. Harry is holding onto Louis' lower mid-section  
for dear life, all Louis can see of him is his head of unruly curls and then some. It's not a painful  
kind of tight that he gripped him with, more of a don't-go-away kind of tight.

Louis couldn't reach him when he stretched an arm out behind him, so he shuffled a little closer to  
Edward. He couldn't sleep so he decided to examine what he could while the man was asleep.  
Extending his hand meant a sharp muscle pull in that limb, but Louis continued anyway.  
His body was not going to be ignored, it seems. He was sore and sensitive and everything that  
anything to do with it was a delicious drug to him. They've made him greedy for something that  
ended like this, and he refused to be guilty about it.

_Who would have ever thought his high school's sassiest student would be waking up in bed with  
two murderers?_

Edward was peaceful when he slept, all calm features and deep breaths. Louis touched the planes of  
his bare chest, over the tattoos of quotes in ancient languages and images of forbidden descent. He  
felt like a criminal merely touching the upside-down cross or the skull with a top hat and the teeth  
of a siren.

When he drifted further upward towards the curve of a jaw that should be banned, Edward's hand  
caught his. Louis' heart plummeted. The man opened his eyes like he was never a victim of sleep  
after a night of physical exertion - the _best kind_ \- and brought Louis' hand to his lips.

"Good morning, petal." He nipped at the underside of Louis' wrist, kissing the warm pulse right  
after.

"Hi." Louis had his arm thrown over Edward's shoulder and his body brought closer to him.

Staring into the deepest shade of green that held lies and truth in one glance, Louis minded Harry's  
unmoving figure while he leaned towards Edward. His forehead was resting on Edward's and his  
other hand was squashed between them, caught in a cage of bodies.

Edward touched him first and it burned like ice. He thumbed gently over Louis' cheekbone,  
studying the skin as he did so and feeling like the most powerful man on earth. He could press a  
little harder and leave a mark, put something in his hand and he'd shatter a skull.

Yet, he's losing himself to hypnotic blue eyes as they shined through the black atmosphere and spent  
that energy worshipping his petal.

Louis said nothing and brought his hand back from Edward's nape, tracing over the jawline that  
went on for miles. He grazed over where the infamous Styles dimples would pop, and got his index  
bitten harmlessly. His eyes got a little crinkly at the corners when he smiled, going easily when  
Edward pulled him forward with a hand on the back of his head.

Their lips connected but something else somewhere hidden was ignited, Louis' useless arm getting  
bent over his abdomen as his eyelids slipped closed. Edward didn't remove his hand from the cradle  
of Louis' head, afraid of letting go as he concentrated with a frown on this kiss. He'd pull away with  
puffy lips and push back against Louis without letting themselves breathe.

Louis whined a low sound and Edward swallowed the pleasure like he didn't need anything but it to  
survive. He invaded Louis' mouth with his tongue, tasting what he hadn't last night and leaving his  
scent behind. He sucked Louis' tongue into his mouth and didn't care for biting too hard, knowing  
the boy's likes already.

His hand moved to Louis' neck and he took a deep breath through his nose, blowing out into Louis'  
mouth before pulling away so his petal could breathe.

"I should inform you-" Edward says softly, face unreadable. "-you are never seeing the outside of  
this room. I hope you said your farewells, petal."

Louis found it in him to giggle. He pressed his palms over Edward's chest and experimentally  
pushed himself away, but the man's strength overpowered his and he was held back.

"Behave, petal." Edward buried his face in Louis' neck and bit a suitable patch of skin that wasn't  
already red or purple. "You're never running away from us."

"I'm not that scared." Louis nosed at Edward's jugular. "Will you ever hurt me, Daddy?"

Edward's lips curve downward in troubled concern, then uplifts itself into a smug smirk. "No, petal.  
I'll fuck you until some part of your lovely body bends the other way but I'd never hurt you."

Louis knots his fingers in Edward's hair and hides his wild blush urgently, both elbows propped up  
on the man's shoulders as he fits himself onto him.

"Petal?" Edward holds on with just as much dedication, if not way more. "How is your ankle,  
baby?"

"I think I can walk on it." Louis mumbles, eyes closed. "Downstairs....for food."

Chuckling, Edward pinches Louis' hip near the panties that Louis hasn't noticed yet. He's pretty  
oblivious after mind blowing sex and a good rest but before food.

"I hear you, petal. We'll wait for my brother." Edward answers slowly. "He hates waking up alone."  
"Everybody does."

Louis still has Harry attached to his middle like a vine and wonders how he can sleep so calmly  
when in such a position. He looks over his shoulder and finds that Harry is being roused somehow  
but very leisurely. He twitched or grumbled something short, sometimes an indecipherable version  
of "Petal".

Something black catches Louis' eye because it's on his body and a wide enough contrast to be  
visible. He gasps.

"Wh-Where did those come from?" He can barely see the full thing but they're soft and small on his  
body, concealing where necessary and revealing where it must.

"They're all brand new, darlin'." Edward's hand touches the waistline, slipping a finger underneath  
and snapping the elastic.

Louis shivered and touched the fabric, wonderful silk, with his own fingers. They were warm from  
being on him all this time and could be branded some of the most comfortable undergarments ever.  
He halts his investigation and delivers the verdict.

"I'm not wearing them in public." He simply says, stretching his arms out over his head.

Edward could lift his whole body - such a lovely little body - with one hand should he wish. He  
grasped Louis' waist and smiled crookedly as he kissed the boy's neck. "You are not leaving the  
room, petal."

"Oh sure."

Louis lowered his stiff arms and could lie on his back now with Harry's face in his tummy. One  
hand went to flattening some of those mad curly locks while the other stayed jobless. He felt like he  
ran a marathon, his body exhausted but mind fully active. 

_"Yes."_ Edward growled and vibrations as short as small wave fronts were passed into Louis'  
nervous system. He stuck his face in Louis' neck and blew out a warm breath, easily excitable by  
the thoughts racing through his head. "You're going to stay in our room, on our bed, wearing  
panties. Just panties all fuckin' day."

"I'd get cold." Louis smartly replied. "What would you do then, Daddy?"

"Take off the panties and replace it with me." Edward groaned like the fantasy was enough to rile  
him up. "Harry and I will always take care of you, petal."

"Yeah?" Louis was with breathless lungs and flushed red skin already. "You're so possessive,  
Daddy."

Edward hums but it cracks and comes across a little less soothing with a deep voice and small  
rumble. "You're possessive too, petal. How's your bum?"

Louis scoffs and goes back to massaging Harry's scalp with his fingers. His hair is a little damp on  
the inside but it flows so easily onto his shoulder when Louis straightens them out. He winces when  
something presses into him, into his hypersensitized walls that were still experiencing aftershocks.

"A-Am I-"

"Yes, petal. That's a plug." Edward doesn't seem much affected when he admits the truth. "If it had  
leaked out of you I would have been very disappointed."

Louis' cheeks were bright pink again but he hid the flames in his face well by looking the other way.  
"You're always so insecure about these things, petal." Edward brings Louis' face back to his. "I don't  
know what for."

"Two weeks ago, I hated you and was terrified of you." Louis sighed as he recounted the past,  
holding onto Edward's wrist. "Now I'm here."

"People find pleasure in different things, petal. Even you knew, from the beginning, this would  
happen to us." The man's eyes bore into Louis' like unholy stakes.

"I don't regret anything." Louis tells him quietly, chewing the inside of his cheek.

Harry thankfully began to stir more noticeably, and Louis had something new to focus on. He  
watched Harry lift his head up drowsily, clearly still partly asleep, and look at him with a storm of  
green. Louis gets an extra covering when Harry crawls nearer, bending with his hair forming dark  
curtains to block the sight of their kiss.

"Hello, petal." He spoke with a scratchy and extra husky morning voice, lips moulding to Louis'.  
This is his home, he's certain of it.

"Hi." Louis smiles up at Harry, a hand on his chest and his legs bent over Harry's knees.

He gets another kiss, deeper and full of a meaning he can't comprehend. Harry kisses Louis' lips like  
he's been deprived of any mercy or passion all his life, yet he wakes up to a sinful-looking angel in  
his bed. 

"Are you sore, petal?" Harry asks, politely scoping out just the area of Louis' ludicrous bum with  
both hands.

Louis moans when the touches turn to kneading. He's too weak to do this or have anything done to  
him. "Yes, Daddy."

Harry's sound of approval for that answer a prolonged grumble of appreciation. The way Louis'  
behind seems to fill out his hands and make him feel unconditionally attached is a real favourite of  
his. "Good."

Temporarily freed because Harry pecks his lips and moves away to the side, Louis doesn't think he  
can encourage his own body to move more than what the twins make him do. He's utterly fucked  
out and in no hurry to recover.

"Breakfast, petal." Edward reminds him as his body commences a shut down routine. "Shower too."  
"I can't move." Louis turns to him and murmurs.

Harry is amused on Louis' other side, but he's supportive and wraps himself around Louis' sleepy  
form. He'll always take his petal's side if he saw a logical reason, which would be any reason said in  
Louis' voice. He kisses Louis behind the ear and says goodnight, despite it being near noon.

* * * * *

Niall knocks on the ancient and immaculately carved door that stood twice - maybe thrice - his  
height. He was intimidated by the damn thing but not enough to deter his task and reason for  
coming to this stupid place.

"Can I help you?" A middle-aged man with silvery hair answered the door, looking like an authentic  
chauffeur. _What the Hell is this?_

"H-Hi. I'm here to see Louis. Is he here?" Niall folds his hands in his pockets, around the piece of  
paper with this property's address on it.

"He is." The chauffeur man dropped his smile. "He's with the Masters. What do you want to see him  
for?"

"He's my best friend. I'm Niall, you can uh- tell him that. He'll know who I am." Niall begins to  
doubt that he said the right thing.

"Come in." He's welcomed by the stranger and Niall must really be off his rocker because he goes  
in. "Wait here."

He nods and watches the butler go in search of his best friend. Good luck to him because this place  
is _massive_ enough to get lost in twice over. Why the Hell do the twins live in a place so  
lavish?

"Who are you?" A female voice from somewhere above him calls out. 

Niall looks up and at the staircase that spread out into two passageways in opposite directs. A girl  
stood at the railing with her arms crossed and a frown steadied on her brow as she looked at him.  
"Niall." He answers, then swears himself because she won't know a Niall. "Niall Horan."

"What are you doing here?" Her strawberry blonde hair comes into view as she descends the  
staircase. Niall thinks she looks familiar.

"I'm here for Louis." He replies quickly, moving back when she stops two feet away from him.  
Her mouth turns into a grin from an unimpressed line. "Taking him away, are you? I'll give you a  
drink if you do."

Well damn. "No, just came to talk to him."

"Oh." She wets her bottom lip. "What for?"

"That's personal."

She shrugs and walks away to a small table near the cosy sitting room with a _freaking  
fireplace._ There's an assortment of glass bottles and cups on a silver tray and this young woman  
fills one halfway.

"Walls have ears here anyway." She takes a sip on her way back to the staircase. "Don't give up on  
taking him away, Niall."

* * * * *

When the knock from Gerard comes through their door, Louis is well on his way to being asleep  
again. Edward just having finished his shower, is pulling on appropriate pants for the day while  
Harry stuck like glue to their sleeping petal.

Edward goes to answer the door but doesn't open it more than a crack. "Gerard?"

"Master Styles, there is a Niall Horan here to see Louis."

"What for?" Edward brushes through his hair to dry it with his fingers.

"I'm not sure, Sir. He's downstairs in the foyer."

"Thank you." Edward seals the door again and turns around to the mess of their bedroom.

Louis wakes up after the interruption and hears everything, so he sat upright in the sheets with a  
wince when he listened to Niall's name. He couldn't let his friend be alone in this house for long,  
especially since he doesn't know the reason for his visit.

"Petal?" Harry stays down while Louis gets to his feet. 

He wavers a little bit but Edward catches and secures him, waiting for the boy to be completely  
okay before letting go. Louis didn't want to move a muscle now that he's standing up, because they  
all seem to be locked in place and his behind was prey to a world of tenderness.

"Let's wash up first, petal." Harry chuckles, redirecting Louis' path to the bathroom.

Louis is taken to the en-suite bathroom and made to stand at the counter with both hands braced on  
the surface. Harry closes the door and dims the lights so Louis' eyes can adjust without harsh  
conditions. He hands Louis a toothbrush with a tube of toothpaste, standing behind him the whole  
time Louis brushed just in case.

"Why do you think he's here?" Louis asked, maybe it was to himself, after splashing water on his  
face so he's a bit more awake.

Harry simply escapes the world by burrowing a home in Louis' neck again. "Do you have a  
hypothesis, petal?"

"It must be serious for him to come all the way here." Louis worries his bottom lip as he considers  
this.

Brushing his own teeth while Louis rinsed his mouth, Harry speaks around the object in his mouth.  
"Maybe not."

Louis rolls his eyes. He won't admit to his small squeak that comes out when Harry isn't ashamed to  
slap his left cheek.

"Harry!" He exclaims when the sting just adds fuel to the burn already present in that zone.

"Shh." Harry grabs his chin and plants a kiss on his lips, some foam getting on Louis' chin.

Pouting, Louis finishes up with the basin and tries to tame what he can of his hair. It's futile after a  
while and he gives up, inspecting all the marks presently scattered sporadically on his body. His  
chest and abdomen were properly marked up with bites, bruises and most other skin was still red.  
He touched a few to check the pain factor but they weren't unreasonable.

"You must be uncomfortable." Harry stepped up behind him, once more blocking him in.

Harry takes the hairbrush off the granite counter and puts the handle in his mouth, while his fingers  
work through some of the knots in Louis' hair. The latter male has no choice - he really needs to  
stop lying to himself - but to stand there and be groomed.

"Little bit." He admits, trying not to squirm too much with the feeling of dryness between his thighs  
when it shouldn't be there.

While Harry combs his hair into some semblance of order, Louis fidgets with cologne bottles. There  
are less than half a dozen and it still seems like too much for two people.

"This one smells funny." Louis' nose scrunches up at the heady scent.

Harry gets a whiff too. "It's Edward's. He wears it with another one sometimes."

"That sounds a little weird."

"It actually works." Harry is finally done with the neatening job of Louis' hair. "Let me clean you up  
then you go to your friend."

By 'clean you up' Louis didn't expect him to start pulling off his feminine underwear. He jumps out  
of Harry's hands when it starts happening, but seems to have forgotten he was boxed in.

"Relax." Harry whispers in his ear and rubs over his hip, their eyes connecting via the mirror.

Louis freezes and let's Harry strip him of his panties, not thinking too much about them while Harry  
lifts him onto a cleared space on the counter. He pushes Louis down a little onto his back, spreading  
his legs and hoisting them over his shoulders. Louis is pressed all up against him so Harry steps  
back to make some space.

"Is it possible that your friend is here to help you move?" Harry wets a face cloth with warm water  
and brings it down to where the plug is still fitted.

"N-No." Louis gasps when the cloth makes contact with the skin around his hole.

"Sure?" Harry dabs the skin, frowning at some marks that are redder than they should be and could  
possibly be scratches.

Louis is shivering against the granite but his legs are bursting with flames. He squirms and Harry  
pinches him somewhere, he whines and Harry kisses his calf. Harry cleans around the plug but  
never extracts it. It fills him with great joy to know that Louis will walking around with his brother's  
and his seed all day.

However, the come can dry and cause more damage than necessary so he forfeits that joy to pull out  
the plug. He sticks it in his mouth like an erotic pacifier and gets a wonderland of taste on his  
tongue.

"You look beautiful." Harry tells Louis like a pilgrim to a deity after he sets the plug down. His  
finger runs over the bruising and tiny cuts. "You're still _open_, petal. Fuck."

Louis fears Harry will try something and that fear becomes a reality when the man yanks his body  
upward to the sky. His bent knees end up higher on either side of Harry's head, the backs of his  
thighs braced against Harry's shoulders. Only his head and shoulderblades were left on the counter,  
his hands supporting himself as he's picked up into a slant.

Harry dives right in even if the come was moving North now. He abandons the towel and hungrily  
licks, bites and sucks whatever he can. Louis releases a loud moan that dies into a whine, his toes  
curling and knuckles whitening. The tongue at his hole gets more desperate to _consume_ him,  
fitting itself into him and lapping at every drop of come it can get.

Starting to violently shake with his body thrusting itself towards another orgasm, Louis clenches  
around Harry's tongue and sends more come his way. Harry groan is muffled by Louis' thighs, only  
his hair visible between the mounds of flesh.

"O-O-Oh!" Louis closed his eyes and bit his lip, clawing at the cold granite as sounds left him. "DDaddy!"

Harry stretched him apart and got another gush of warm come, all that Louis had left in his spent  
body. With a heavy length on his tummy, Louis saw his own body prepare to climax unexpectedly.  
He crosses his shins behind Harry's head and tossed his head back, elbows dropping and come  
leaving him in weak splatters.

Louis is well past awake after that. His legs are lowered and he pants up at the ceiling, eyes wide  
and blinking to fast. Harry leans over him and they kiss languidly until Louis needs air to fill his  
dying lungs. Then, he lies absolutely still while Harry _actually_ cleans him up.

"Petal?" Harry left for less than a minute and returned with something navy in his right hand, but  
other clothing over his shoulder.

"Hmm?" Louis rolls his head to the side.

Harry fits his hands under Louis' body and slowly drags him towards the edge. He kisses Louis'  
belly button and unfolds the squashed ball of navy, revealing dark blue panties with no exceptional  
designs. Louis' legs are on his shoulders again, the panties sliding up his legs until they're properly  
in place.

"Sit up for me, petal?" Harry takes Louis' hand and aids him in the rise.

Louis patiently allows clothes to be put on him. First is a white vest, then Harry's thin black sweater  
than showed what skin it could beneath. Black shorts that ended at his knee with a neat fold upward.  
"You okay, petal?" Harry roped his arms around Louis' body, tucking him in under his chin.

"Yeah." Louis nods, speaking a little more clearly. His hands found their way to Harry's shoulders  
where they settle.

"Did Daddy I make you feel good or bad, petal?" Harry found himself asking, breathing in the scent  
of Louis' hair.

"Good." Louis bit his lip just thinking about it. "Good, Daddy."

"Sure?" Harry rubs Louis' back.

Louis nods to tell him that he is sure and is allowed to hop down from the counter. Harry gives him  
half the dosage of his painkillers and Louis promises that he's okay to walk around a little bit.  
Leaving the room, Louis finds his way down the hallway on plush carpeting until he reaches the  
staircase. He sees Niall from there, in the company of Edward who wasn't even speaking to him.  
Edward was on his phone two couches away from Niall, looking up only when Louis walked into  
the lounge.

There was a small gait in his step but it was manageable with minimal pain. Louis got to hug Niall  
the second he appeared, smiling in greeting as he hugged back. "Hey, Ni."

"Petal?" Edward stood up and cut in between them to check on the boy.

"My leg is fine, I promise." Louis tells him, earnest in the truth. He wraps his hand almost all the  
way around Edward's wrist, closing his eyes when lips touch his head. 

"When I call, I want you to come. You need to eat."

Louis nods his consent and brightens at the thought of food. He's starving, he won't lie about that.  
Edward leaves them alone and Niall pulls Louis down onto the couch again with him. "God  
dammit, Lou. This place is creepy."

"I thought the same thing when I first came here." Louis laughs, folding his able leg under his body,  
keeping the other one at his side.

Niall looks around him like he doesn't trust a damn thing. Louis giggles at his paranoia. In his red  
shirt and blue jeans, Niall sits back but still looks uneasy.

"What's wrong, Niall?" Louis is worried for his friend, as he always is. How could something  
bother Niall so much that he had to drive here to see Louis?

Leaning forward again, Niall prepares to tell his story. "I met Liam's detective friend."

"He's okay?"

"Yeah, he's okay." Niall judges Louis' reaction to this before going on. "He flirted with me when  
Liam left the room."

Louis' attention is all on him, not knowing to be angry or be utterly shocked at the audacity.

"I slapped the friend, Zayn is his name." Niall clears his throat, that worried look returning to his  
features. "He-He said that Liam and he have shared before. _Shared_, Lou. What the fuck?"  
Going for scandalised, Louis closes his mouth after it falls open a little bit. "Idiot. What did Liam  
do?"

"That's why I'm here." Niall leans closer with his arm on the back of the couch. "Liam isn't all that  
opposed to the bloody idea."

"What?" Louis is positively annoyed with Liam. His best friend is not a doll to be shared. "Did you  
leave him? I would-"

"No, no. Hang on." Niall waves his hand to dismiss that option. "I...I took the time to think about  
something like this and you were the first person I thought of."

"Oh."

Louis lowers his supportive and outraged vision back down to the overlapping of his fingers on his  
shorts. He knows why Niall thought of him first and he also realises that he's not offended because  
he'd also turn to him if the situation was reversed.

"So am I your guru now?" Louis tries teasing, finding a nice enough position for his hiney to not  
suffer.

"You're my guru, Lou." Niall nods, laughing as he does so. "I just....what's it like, I guess?"

"Niall." Louis suppresses his smile. "This is not an audition for a house musical. It's a lifestyle but it  
doesn't define you. Don't be afraid of what people will think."

"But-"

"Petal." Edward interrupts them from the entry way of the living room, his phone in his hand and  
gum in his mouth. "Breakfast. Now."

"Coming." Louis motions for Niall to join him as he wakes up off the couch.

Harry comes jogging down the steps two at a time and with such lean legs he has no issue. He's also  
whistling a tune that sounds too much like the Freddy Kruger lullaby.

_Three, Four. Better lock your door._

The air thickens as does the intake of oxygen Louis breathes with everyone else in the room. He  
locks eyes with Harry and the latter throws him a wink just because. It would have unnerved him  
once upon a time, but now he's caught rendering Harry's cunning little smirk by crossing his legs.

_Five, six. Grab your crucifix._

That's not all there is to Harry's arrival of course, because he's wearing nothing besides Nike navy  
sweatpants. He's also twirling what looks like a blade of sorts in his right hand. The navy colour  
makes Louis sweat ironically, particularly around the hip region. The knife doesn't bring much of a  
response.

_Seven, eight. Gonna stay up late._

Ignoring the presence of his older brother and Louis' curious best friend with eyes at the back of his  
head when inside this head, Harry heads straight for his petal. It's almost like he didn't _just see  
him_ not ten minutes ago upstairs where they did things they shouldn't on a bathroom counter  
top.

_Nine, ten. Never sleep again._

Harry ends the tune as soon as he's as close to Louis as can be. He's a foot taller and staring down at  
the boy who peered up at him with a kind of goading.

Niall watched when Harry bent down and captured Louis' lips in a kiss too gentle to be right. The  
knife he held was a safe distance away, behind Harry's back when he dipped low enough.  
There's a bubble that drew itself around them at moments like these, but it didn't feel like a whole  
lot of intimacy more than it felt like a gilded cage. Harry also mumbles a short greeting against  
Louis' cheek before pulling away.

"What?" Louis doesn't look too happy when he's allowed to pull away, his eyebrows knitting  
together.

Niall takes this as his cue to step backwards twice so nothing flies in his direction. He watches in  
fascination as hushed whispers break out between Harry and Louis, Edward standing to himself.

"Petal." Harry doesn't hold too tight when he grabs both sides of Louis' face. "We have to."

Niall would combust if it was him in Louis' role. The blade from earlier was inches from Louis' eye  
but it didn't even strike the boy as a danger. It should, but it did not.

"No." Louis won't try and fail in pushing those hands away. "You can't just go pack my things and  
bring it here, Harry."

"You're going to be staying here." Edward now intervenes on call, speaking soft and kindly to  
Louis. "Would you like to wear our clothes at all times then?"

Louis gets himself freed by force. "Do not bring my things here."

"You don't want to go back there, Lou." Harry snaps the knife closed and shoves it in his pocket.

"That doesn't matter." He crosses his arms over his narrow chest. "You didn't even ask me, neither  
of you did."

Edward sighs, raking his paw-like hand with talons and all through his head of hair. "Darlin',  
whether you said yes or no today would be happening."

"Really?" Louis looks more upset by this now than angered by it.

"You know we do it for you." Edward reels him into his bear arms, protecting Louis from the world.

"You know that, don't you?"

Niall thinks this is too intense for him. But then again, not every set of boyfriends will be bat-shit  
crazy.

"Fine." Louis surrenders, getting two kisses right on the mouth. Well there's a pro. "Just my clothes,  
okay?"

That dilemma is put past them after the discussion, Harry departing through the front door with car  
keys in his hand. Edward apparently doesn't plan on going because someone has to be with Louis at  
all times, for whatever reason they're using to justify their disliking for Niall.

"Go have breakfast." Edward sends Louis off in the direction of the kitchen. "I'll be in the lounge  
when you're done."

Louis gives him a farewell kiss on the jaw. He _at last_ turns to Niall wearing a guilty  
expression with a tiny shrug.

"I think I'm gonna go for the extreme-" Niall walks behind Louis to the most beautiful kitchen he's  
ever laid eyes on. "-and become asexual."

Laughing in a quick burst, Louis goes to the stove with two plates. He puts eggs, salted hash browns  
and chicken fillets onto their plates before taking them back around to Niall.

"Don't be so dramatic." Louis slides into a chair at the slowest possible rate, taking his time on his  
unforgiving posterior. "Besides, something like this isn't an option on some kind of poll. It's not like  
getting advice on how to wear a bow instead of a tie."

"I get your point." Niall chews and swallows. "What do I do about it?"

"Are you even open to 'it'?"

"Possibly." Niall avoids Louis smug little smile. "Stop that."

Rolling his eyes, Louis goes back to his food. "Try. If it works, it works. If it doesn't, you tried."

"Really?"

"Really. It's honestly not that different to seeing one person."

"That's a lie, Lou."

"Yeah it is. It's very different. A good different though, I promise. What's Liam's friend like?"

Niall finds himself ready to gush like a teenager at a concert's after party. "He's so evil with all these  
good looks. He's Indian-ish but it's kinda hard to tell. Same ranking on the job as Liam. He almost  
threw pudding away. I hate him so much honestly."

"Well-" Louis isn't fazed by his friend's outburst. "-if you're attracted to him and Liam's okay with  
it, where's the harm?"

"I've never _done_ this before, Lou. Help me."

"Ni, my circumstances are nothing like yours. There's no game plan for a relationship."

"I mean like-" Niall scrapes the last bit of egg off his plate. "-what if one of 'em starts asking for  
more time and shit?"

"Then this kind of relationship isn't for them. Break it off with them and you're back to where you  
started."

Niall passes food down his oesophagus as he processes this, hearing ever little word. "What's it  
like? Fair enough our circumstances aren't the same but still."

Louis clears his throat and uncaps a bottle of water from the centre of the kitchen island. "It's really  
sweet sometimes, tough at other times. I haven't....done this for very long, Ni."

"No, I know. I just have nowhere else to really.....check?"

Offering his water to Niall, Louis loses half the volume to his pal of two plus years. "I'm not lying  
then. There's nothing more endearing, for me, than having both sides covered when you're sleeping  
or...or even dancing, I guess."

"You three have _danced_?"

Louis' shoulders rise and fall. "Yeah."

"What else have you three done together?"

There's no hiding his blush. Niall sees it and laughs but not in his usual mocking manner. "Here I  
was, thinking my best friend was so very innocent."

"Hey!" Louis snatches his water bottle back as revenge for that remark. "You can't be mean to a  
guru."

"But seriously-" Niall's cackling only stops after his eyes water up and need wiping. "-since when  
have you become so comfortable around them?"

Louis looked down at his empty plate and answered in a voice that hopefully told of his reluctance  
to discuss this. "Since they saved me."

"From what?" Niall drops his fork accidentally, picking it up and casually asking.

"Doesn't matter." Louis shakes his head, drowning the memories from that night with his mother as  
fast as he can.

"No, Lou." Niall sighs tiredly. "Please tell me."

Shaking his head more firmly now, Louis stands up and prevents a stumble by swiftly walking to  
the sink. His limp is back but it's so slight and hardly hurts.

"Lou-"

"Stop, Ni. I don't want to talk about it." Louis knows Niall's just trying to release what he's bottled  
up emotionally, but....just _not this._

"You have to, Louis. You're-" Niall's voice was making Louis grip the counter tighter and tighter,  
bloody imagery flooding his mind once again. "-hurting yourself."

He wasn't. Louis knows he isn't. Staying here, away from that place where he _watched his  
mother die_ is not hurting himself. He's protecting himself and the twins are helping him do it.  
His head starts to throb at the temples where the weakest spots in the human skull were, and he feels  
sick.

"Thanks for coming, Ni." He takes deep breaths to lessen the attack on his body. "I um-"

Louis chews viciously on his bottom lip when a fresh wave of Hell comes up from his gut, tear  
ducts swelling up and he doesn't know why. Except he does know why. He's not ready to handle the  
trauma and physical distress that comes with PTSD and every opportunity it got, the symptoms  
would throw themselves at him.

He can see it all again and closing his eyes doesn't help. It just gets brighter and clearer. Opening his  
eyes, his vision is blurry and it's not because of tears. By Niall's head across the island from him he  
can see a burly Russian and he's got blood splatters across hisLouis' crumbling to the ground before he can catch himself, as if hit by the deceased Russian. He  
scrambles for the bin as Niall rushes to him, bringing the empty desirable closer so Louis has  
somewhere to throw up. He brings up everything he ate and dry heaves with a painful bitter taste  
hibernating at the back of his throat.

"Louis!" Niall supports him because Louis feels like dead weight. "Oh God, come on Lou."

"E-Ed-Edward." Louis stammers, body riddled with shivers even if it's humid outside. 

"Yeah, okay." Niall helps Louis to his feet after he's certain the nausea has passed, taking all of  
Louis' weight to be his responsibility.

He tries to make Louis drink but the effort is wasted, so he just half-drags and half-carries Louis to  
the living room. It's thankfully a very short trip and Edward is already making his way out with a  
peeved look for Niall.

Edward takes in Louis' appearance and forgets that for the moment, lifting him up into his arms  
with his heart sinking down to the graves beneath this house. He doesn't let Niall near Louis, the  
latter's head already falling back lifelessly as energy leaves him.

"Fuck, petal." Edward walks into the lounge and situates Louis on his lap when he sits, propping the  
boy up against his chest.

But it's not just that. It _isn't._

Because while he whispers in Louis' ear, he's encouraging him to stay awake and listen. While he  
forces him to drink, he's nourishing the boy's drained body with what little it will accept. When he  
rubs Louis' back, he's comforting him in such an affectionate way. He kisses Louis' sweaty forehead  
like he's still willing to only love this one creature of Earth, and that speaks for itself.

Louis starts to shake his head with a hand covering his mouth, choking on the water that hasn't  
made it down his throat. It's an obvious sign that he's going to need that bin again but before Niall  
can grab it, Edward's gets a steel version from under the coffee table and holds it for Louis to heave  
into.

The assaults on Louis' small body find themselves to be so violent that it lands him on the floor,  
clutching the bin with both hands. Edward goes with him of course, keeping Louis as clean as can  
be with his arms always around his waist.

It ends finally when Louis' stomach stops cruelly tossing itself up on him, and he's left tired with  
sweaty and red skin. Louis has his eyes half closed and his body sandwiched between Edward's legs  
that guard him. Edward's using his sleeve to wipe off the perspiration, a crushed feeling surfacing in  
the pit of his stomach when he sees Louis like this.

Niall hears bits and pieces of Edward's words to Louis, petnames and gentle motivation, and he can  
finally understand how they managed to save Louis.


	21. Chapter Twenty-One

_All I know at the end of the day is you love love. There ain't no other way._

***NARRATOR'S POV***

"Duckling?" Liam stood up from the hotel room floor as soon as he heard the click of an electronic  
lock.

Niall looks bummed out and exhausted, having just come back from Styles manor with the  
conclusion that he's a worse friend than _Harry and Edward Styles._ The blasphemy was  
uncouth and it made him feel inadequate, drowning in self-pity.

"Love, I'm so sorry." Liam takes the jacket over Niall's shoulder and the car keys, tossing them

away so he can cradle the boy's face in both his hands. "I shouldn't have thrown something like that  
on you."

Starting to shake his head, Niall realises that such a movement would be futile due to the strength of  
the man standing taller than him at the moment. He braces his own hands over Liam's and smiles  
tiredly.

"It's fine. I'm fine." He insists, authentically drained more for the reason of his own stupidity than  
how idiotic he let Edward make him feel.

"What happened?" Liam pulls Niall into his arms, placing his chin on the darkening blond tint of  
hair. "Where did you go, Ni?"

"To see Lou." Comes Niall's muffled response against Liam's chest. "I fucked up, Liam."

"What? How, Duckling?" He leads Niall towards the nearest bed that was one of two, sitting down  
and pulling Niall onto his lap.

Niall doesn't seem fit to talk about it with Liam. Nobody wants to bring themselves down in the  
eyes of someone else by speaking a blunt truth. What would Liam think of him if he learned that  
Louis had a panic attack but only _Edward Styles_ could pacify him?

"Not now then." Liam brushes aside some of Niall's nasty knots out with his fingers. He kisses  
Niall's nose. "Later, okay?"

"No." Niall whines and hides from the dull sunlight. "Never."

Liam chuckles to himself, knowing that he'd get it out of Niall sooner or later. The blond lad was  
terrible at containing himself, whilst Louis could go on hiding the truth forever.

* * * * *

Louis had been forced into isolation so he could think about everything that was going on his head.  
Edward had a difficult time admitting it when his petal only complained that there was too much, it  
was too loud and too scary in his own head.

"No, Edward. I don't want to be alone." Louis was taken to the guest room in Edward's arms  
because he didn't want to walk.

"You must, petal." Edward stood at the bed but Louis didn't climb off him. "You refuse to talk about  
it and I can only help with this."

Louis found himself dropped onto the bouncy mattress, the micro-fibres fitting around his weight.  
He was overwhelmed and maybe time alone would help but it could also do more damage, so he  
scrambled off the bed when Edward started to leave.

"Don't." Edward's voice boomed through his eardrums and Louis froze, looking distraught.

"Stay with me." His voice shook. He even reached out slowly, the loss of energy causing his hand to  
shiver. _"Pl-Please."_

Edward stepped closer and gave Louis hope, emerald green turning shaky blue into ash. He slapped  
Louis' hand away and when the boy choked on something as dreadful as a sob, Edward grabbed  
both sides of his face.

"Hush." He pressed his lips fervently to Louis' forehead, their height difference making it easy.

Louis' hands, smaller and weaker, gripped Edward's shirt with all the begging and pleas showing  
through the act. His desperation made his back arch when Edward grazed over it with his  
comforting hand. He felt safer here, warmer and less like an explosive. Being this reassured by  
Edward's presence, Louis allowed himself to be calm.

"Four hours, petal." Were the torturous words, slicing right through the bubble of happiness Louis  
created.

He looked up into those crystal clear eyes depicting a storm behind them, and knows that it's not the  
easiest for either of them. Edward's still leaving him and that's unforgivable.

"No." Louis wraps his arms around the man's waist, hurting his ear against tough muscle.

Edward displayed a show of weakness too. He sighed, closing his eyes briefly to kiss Louis' head  
and hold him back. He's just as tight in his embrace, having more physical strength he all but  
burrows the boy into his chest.

"Stay here, petal." Edward pains himself when he withdraws, picking Louis' hands off him.

Louis looks crestfallen when his arms fall at his sides. He stares at Edward silently, every word still  
reaching the man with how raw his gaze becomes.

"Take this." Edward pulls out a cellphone that isn't his from his pocket and presses it into Louis'  
hand.

Louis is angered when he looks at the device with a glossy black screen. He's being treated so  
callously.

Edward walks out immediately after that, not looking back even when he feels free but cold in the  
hallway and closes the door. If he did, he'd have gone right back and made a home beside their  
petal. Louis glared at the door as it shut on him, releasing a scream of agony even though there was  
no pain. He flung the phone at the door and listened to it bang into oak wood, before falling and  
shattering. It was expensive and now it felt as broken as Louis did.

Hearing the scream had Edward touching the doorknob again but the sudden slam of something  
against that barrier had him growling. A strange feeling of longing and _another thing_ welled  
in his chest, causing a backlash that was him colliding his fist into the door. It almost sprained his  
wrist but he didn't care. He didn't mourn the phone when he withdrew his knuckles and they were  
bloody, red slivers left as evidence on the white paint.

_What were they doing to each other?_

He had to leave. He should turn on his heel and go downstairs so he could put distance between  
them. His nostrils were flaring and his head hurt like a connection had been severed.

_Fuck it._

And just like the promise to never touch Louis made a lifetime ago, Edward felt himself blatantly  
disregarding the nag of logic and rationale. There was no rationale when Louis was regarded, just  
_Louis._

Throwing open the door, Edward stalked up to Louis without closing it again. Louis hadn't moved  
and he was thoroughly surprised to see Edward again, beautiful sniffles coming out from that  
perfect mouth. Edward ruined it when their lips crashed together and he held Louis like he held onto  
salvation.

His fingers made red lines on Louis' cheeks and neck, their kiss sloppy and desperate. Louis  
mewled and granted Edward access to everything, wanting to be allowed to _forget._ It's not  
healthy but he doesn't care, doesn't bring himself to stop when he's hoisted onto the bed and his  
clothes yanked off.

Piece by piece their attire disappears, leaving them bare and surrendering to one another. Louis  
gasped and curved his back off the bed when Edward dipped his tongue into his belly button, teeth  
gripping the flesh. When he kissed any part of Louis it was like a feeding frenzy with bites and  
sucks so harsh, so wonderful.

"Take me apart, Daddy." He held his legs open and Edward spat on his hole, eyes feral as he dove  
in.

Edward's chest rumbled and Louis felt it everywhere. He flipped Louis onto his front without  
delicacy and slapped his left bum cheek. "Mine."

"Yes." Louis tried pushing himself up, needing air but not wanting it.

Edward slapped him again, his lips working Louis open in cooperation with his tongue. He didn't  
stop, didn't give in to reason. He kept hitting Louis where he thought would be beautiful with a little  
more pink, open-palmed and not particular. 

_"Yes."_ Louis threw his head back when Edward gripped his hair unkindly, snapping his head  
back sharply.

"I'll make you forget, petal." Edward kicked Louis' legs apart and worked his length to full  
hardness.

He positioned himself and slammed into Louis' body, not a proper stretching leaving the boy to  
shriek and tears to spill over his face. It was the best feeling, ecstasy in its purest form racing like  
demons through his veins. Edward started thrusting immediately, grunting as he bit Louis' shoulder  
and fucked feverishly.

A train of 'daddydaddydaddy' was leaving Louis' lips, his body trying to run from this burn and  
brutality but his head needing it. He pushed back with a tender arse brushing Edward's thighs, the  
heavy length inside him filling him to the brink.

Edward pressed him down into the mattress with a hard hand, Louis' head just managing to turn to  
the side so he could breathe. The head of Edward's c*ck was pounding barbarically into Louis'  
prostate, making it swell and throb and blood raced to the boy's erection. He loved the pain and  
hated that it would end soon.

"Gonna fucking _ruin_ you." Edward cursed filthily in his ear, his hands holding Louis' bum in  
the air as he rammed into it.

Each thrust was like a bullet, causing damage that would make him sore forever. Louis felt  
shattered, Edward fucking the stress out of him in broken scatters. He screeched and fisted the  
sheets, his body convulsing as he came. Edward's hips were beating against him, stinging like the  
tears in his eyes. A short jerk later and Louis felt the warmth of come shooting into him.  
He wasn't finished. He wanted to _forget_ and there was too much detail concerning the  
nightmare he was escaping.

"Wanna ride you, Daddy." He panted, hips still in the air with Edward pressed along the length of  
his body.

Edward nosed at his hairline and he latched his teeth onto Louis' skin at the base of his throat. He  
could feel the blood in his arteries and he fed off the life it seemed to have. His teeth felt the  
pulsating motions and his tongue lapped at the sweat that was gathering on Louis' body.

* * * * *

"Come here." Edward beckoned Louis to the other side of the room, something black creeping up  
his arm in a spiral.

He was on edge with a new, fresh kind of wildfire ablaze in the harbour of his testosterone. Edward  
was not pleased when he saw Louis stand up.

"Crawl." His voice was commanding and crisp with the threat of punishment. 

Louis swallowed, tasting blood as he did so. Excitement bubbled to the surface of his libido, getting  
on all fours obediently but gingerly and making his way forward. His thighs were wet with come  
leaking out, every thought of worrying over the faulty state of mind he was in slipping out.

"Answer me!" Edward barked.

"Yes, Daddy." Louis couldn't look up if he wanted to because of his neck craning, so he bowed his  
head in submission.

"Look up." Edward made him see the jet black leather object coiled around his arm like a snake.

It was a pricey-looking whip with a handle thicker than door knob. Louis liked it because it wasn't  
an actual whip that would leave awful marks under his skin. He got to brush it with his fingers,  
marvel at its smooth texture and blush when he met Edward's hooded gaze.

"On your front. Hands behind your back." Edward commands and Louis does so, his chest landing  
on the soft carpet with an 'oof'.

Louis' knees were knocked apart and cold air blew like a breeze over his exposed hole, swallowing  
his moan at how chilly it felt. Edward tied his hands with the whip curled around his wrists half a  
dozen times, the leather driving heat in and out of Louis' body in flushes. The inability to move was  
making Louis squirm with want, wanting it for so many reasons.

"Do you know what you do to me?" Edward spoke gruffly in his ear, warm breath fanning over his  
cheek. "Because I fucking don't."

Louis opened his mouth and over it closed Edward's. They kissed with untidy movements and  
unimpressive noises.

"Open wider." Edward said before sticking the handle of the whip in Louis' mouth.

He gagged on it when it pushed too deep, sputtering but not giving it up. He needed this, so he  
welcomed the taste of plastic and leather, the metallic feel dancing on his tastebuds. His lips pursed  
around the width, sucking loudly with hollowed cheeks.

"You're such a slut, petal." Edward sounded huskier, more worked up.

His nails, sharp as nails and his teeth, dragged down Louis' back without relenting on the merciless  
pressure. Louis arched into it with desperate little noises coming out around the whip's handle. It  
stretched his mouth so well it made Louis fanatical.

Edward's middle fingernail didn't stop like the rest did when Louis' back - an object in itself of sin.  
It continued, scratching down a vicious line between his cheeks on his perineum, satisfying the itch  
deep in the pit of Louis' abdomen. The boy breathed raggedly and loudly, whining so tragically as  
his shaft prepared to come. He came across the floor with such a hard front that he was thankful he  
didn't black out.

"You must be sensitive now." Edward extricated the handle from between Louis' slackened jaw.

He doesn't allow for Louis to answer, because he closes in on Louis' clenching rim with the  
generous girth of the whip handle. It's widest at the tip and Louis jerks his head up, eyes wide and   
heart racing as it slowly pops in. His hands pull him back as the other end of the whip disappears  
inside him, drawing him into a perfect C for his back.

"D-Daddy!" He cries out, the handle being too big for his sensitive walls to grasp.

Edward sinks his teeth into Louis' cheek right beside where the handle vanishes. He watches it  
make Louis' puffy muscle flutter and his skin blush. He's been enraptured completely by this boy  
with a rare personality and lay on his floor with his belongings on and in him.

The handle goes too deep and not deep enough. It pushes past the folds of his walls to jab evilly,  
relentlessly at his abused special spot that's swollen into a zone. The tissue is red and exerted, torn  
and taken apart so thoroughly.

"Shh." Edward kneeled over him, his own length hard once again. "Learn to enjoy it."

Louis thinks he already loves it. It's so ideal for turning his brain to pudding at a time when it's  
muddled with problems. Niall. His father. His deceased mother. The Russian. They're all gone to be  
locked up somewhere else. Here Edward claims the victory of his conquest.

He's about to come again, surely promising a monstrous break from all this. Louis awaits it eagerly,  
clenching and twisting in his restraints. He breathes heavily and curls his body up, feeling breakable  
at the edge of a cliff where he controlled nothing.

Except someone new walks into the manor and follows the sounds of such blatant pleasure that it  
brings him to their opened door. It really shouldn't be open.

At first Harry doesn't see them because they're on the floor on the other side of the bed, but when  
Louis shrieks like he's being captured he rushes inside to flip on the light.

"What the fuck?" Harry does not waste a moment glaring and anticipating.

He crouches by Louis' face head and wipes the sweat off his brow. There's a glassy look in his blue  
gems, staring at Harry but through him at the same time. Edward doesn't have a thing to say while  
Harry releases Louis' trembling body, covering him with a sheet from the bed.

"Oh petal." Harry holds Louis like a baby in his arms, bent over his elbows as he steps away from  
the mess on the floor.

Louis is inside his head but it also doesn't feel like _his_ mind. It's empty and slowly filling up  
like a hot with images of Harry, whose face is before him now. He wants to touch him but doesn't  
know how. All he knows is that he's exhausted beyond a healthy measure. Hungry too.

His tummy hurts with pangs of hunger. He has to feed it which meant feeding himself, but the giant  
who held him up so high and close won't let him down.

"You promised not to fucking use that damn thing on him!" Harry is shouting and Louis doesn't  
understand why. What thing?

"Well fuck, I forgot!" Now Edward's yelling too.

Louis can't keep his eyes open any longer. He hides himself in the giant's neck and tries to fall  
asleep.

"_Forgot?!_" Harry raises his voice several octaves, letting Louis nuzzle his neckline. "You  
don't fuckin' forget things like that!"

Edward felt miserable inside. He felt miserable everywhere really. It was ghastly how terribly he  
wanted to slice his own throat. His lovely petal, as much as he wanted it, should never have been  
made to do all that.

"Don't fucking touch him." Harry was a _seething_ lunatic now. Nobody would touch Louis  
for as long as he was like that. "How could you be so brutal? He's going to hate us."

He won't. He wanted what Edward did to him, but that does shit for making anyone feel better.  
Louis is asleep finally with his body dirtied with bodily fluids and dust. It's despicable but  
_God_ is he magnificent.

"Bathe him." Edward swallows around the massive lump in his throat, his eyes fixed on a beauty  
he'll not touch. "Feed him when he wakes up."

Harry frowns deeply, worry lines on his forehead as to Edward's change in tone. "Where are you  
going?"

Edward leaves room without anymore words, his body boiling with self hatred. He goes first to their  
bedroom to get clothing, slipping on what he finds darkest. There's a pit in his lowest depths that  
hasn't come about since Louis did, but it needs reimbursing after being dormant for too long now.  
He pulls on jeans and a navy satin shirt, leaving it undone from the last two buttons upward.

Grabbing the first set of keys he finds in a pile of junk at a corner desk, he ignores his reflection and  
storms out of the room. The door creaks with the energy that buzzes around him, too loud to let  
Harry's voice carry through.

"Chef Robinson." Upon entering the kitchen he found their employee chopping up something that  
was resembling an eggplant.

Edward watched him look up and smile, hating on himself a little less even if he was ruining dinner.

"I apologise." Is all he said before he swung out his right arm and the key he particularly chose from  
the ring of about three cut through skin, flesh and jugular.

The eggplant was ruined and so was every other chopped vegetable on the counter. Blood sprayed  
on the first impact onto Edward's shirt and face, landing on his lips before he licked them. His key  
dripped warm crimson onto the white tile flooring, his hand feeling a familiar kind of warmth that  
sex couldn't bring him.

Blood hit the frying skillet on the stove and sizzled before splashing back out again. With the  
crumble of Chef Robinson's body to the ground, disgusting choking noises filled the air above their  
heads. Lungs filled with blood and not oxygen, clogging them up into drenched sponges until it died  
from drowning in what supplied it with a purpose. It was sinister and ironic.

"You're safe, Gerard." Edward wiped his mouth, smearing the red stain across his cheek.  
The butler walked in completely composed and set his tray down. He's seen this before, and he's  
unaffected besides for the sliver of a chance that he could be next.

"Clean it up." Edward motioned to his mess, a new stature and attitude over-ruling him from before.  
"Find someone to replace him. Clean the guest room yourself. I made quite a mess."

* * * * *

"You're awake, petal?" Harry is speaking gently into Louis' ear, keeping the boy bundled up and  
warm. "Can you have a bath now, Darlin'?"

So many nice words are used on him. Why can't Louis do the same for him? "Daddy."

Harry is pleased by the endearing term. He grins, craters in his cheeks where his magical dimples  
are. "Hello, petal. We can take a bath together, okay? I need to clean you up."

He's a bit concerned about Louis' subspace since it was so sudden a drop. He isn't experienced in  
the field either so he's going minute-by-minute here trying to bring Louis back.

Louis nods to give his consent, eyes uncharacteristically half-lidded and short nails pawing at his  
chest. Fingerbuds are rubbing Harry's chest, where his boy was making himself as small as possible.  
"Come on." Harry slides off the organised sheets. "Up, petal."

Up? Louis frowns and looks at the ceiling. Harry chuckles, obviously amused, but Louis doesn't  
know why. He gets the sheets stripped from around him and knows he doesn't have to hide from this  
specific giant. Harry kisses Louis' tummy where the precious pudge sat stained with sweat and  
sticky come.

Harry lifts him up off the bed and carries him to the bathroom. The tub is cold when Louis is placed  
on one end, the tap coming on and water filling up. Louis draws his knees up to his chest, keeping  
himself warm and looking up at Harry.

"I will be right back."

Harry kiss his forehead and leaves him alone to watch the water level rise and rise.....

"Knock knock." Louis hears someone say from the door.

He doesn't know how long he's been watching the water but he's warm enough now and isn't exactly  
sure how to make it stop flowing.

Gemma stood at the door with both hands in view, a smile on her face. "You look dead, Louis  
Tomlinson. Are you okay?"

Louis nods and turns back to the water, worrying about it rising too high.

"Here." Gemma leans over the lip of the tub and switches off the tap for him. "You're welcome."

Louis smiles. "Thank y-you."

"So-" She sits precariously on the edge of the tub. "-what's up, Lou?"

Shrugging his shoulders, Louis watches the water's surface ripple from his movement. How cool.  
Gemma shakes her head at this fellow's childish responses to everything. Whether he was being  
purposely stubborn or just is a little unbalanced as well, she's not entirely sure.

"You know something, Louis?" She fidgets a bit because her seat is uncomfortable.

Louis looks up at her expectantly, silently as he wishes for bubbles. Bubbles are cool too, aren't  
they?

"My brothers are.....big fans of arbitrary." She exhales a loud breath, puffing out her cheeks. "You  
know what arbitrary means?"

He nods. He's sure he's seen that name on a harbour somewhere before.

"It means-" She explains because she just doesn't trust that look in his eye. "-that they make  
decisions without factual basis. You were one of those decisions."

Louis stops creating waves to watch the ripple effect visually and frowns at her, not understanding.

"You're a _decision_, Louis." She emphasises. "A decision they made because they were  
getting out and needed a....means of occupation."

He's slowly getting what she means and it's a very deadly definition that he does not appreciate.  
"So-" She claps her hands on her thighs. "-now that I'm here, they won't be needing you."

Louis starts to wish the tub was a little wider so he could shift away from her and the intentions that  
hide in those bleak eyes.

"I mean there's the sex. I can't give them that but they'll figure it out." She supposes, reaching for  
her back pocket.

Gasping when the object from the sheath of her pocket is revealed, Louis makes to get out of the tub  
as quick as possible. He's weakened, however, by lack of food nutrition and hydrating agents so he  
slips and ends up sloshing the water right out of the tub.

"Oh relax, I'm not going to kill you with it." She says about the carving blade in her hand, twisting  
it in her palm.

Then why did she need it?

"I'm just gonna reduce my brothers' interest in you to a degree I'm happy with."

Before he can react, her hand plunges into the transparent water that remains and grabs him where  
he's most sensitive. He screams when her cold hand wraps around his soft length, gripping it tightly  
with her nails even poking into the skin. His resistance is futile. Her other hand meets the first,  
armed with the carving blade. 

She slices right through him and the pain is _unbearable._ He cries out from the cruel pain and  
blood starts to take over the water's clear shade. The burn of hot water cleaning raw flesh, his blood  
draining out where his private appendage used to be.

The water turns red and he's shrieking with a forceful amount of excruciating throbbing. His tears  
flow into the bath water and also turn crimson, red like Gemma's lipstick.


	22. Chapter Twenty-Two

***NARRATOR'S POV***

"You're awake, petal?" Harry is speaking gently into Louis' ear, keeping the boy bundled up and  
warm. "Can you have a bath now, Darlin'?"

Louis had bolted awake with such a stricken sense of self awareness that he kicked the cocoon of  
sheets away in an angry tumble. His throat caught him mid-scream and he started to fuss with the  
sheets when they didn't budge. His crotch area was hurting and he remembers what Gemma did. He  
wants to see it, wants to _make sure._

"Petal?" Harry lay back, confused but not interrupting, as Louis battled the bedding.

The look his boy gave him was a sad, hurt one. He sat up then and stilled Louis with a simple kiss  
that kept him stagnant while he untwined the sheets. Louis had gotten them in more of a knot and  
tangle than what it was before.

Louis' first act of freedom is to surprise the fuck out of Harry and touch his limp penis during an  
inspection. He thinks it's really there so he relaxes and situates himself in Harry's lap on purpose,  
not accepting any excuses when he wraps himself around the man.

"What was that, petal?" Harry never thought he could stupefied in his life. His petal proved him  
wrong.

Hiding his face, Louis begins the trying duty of unbuttoning Harry's shirt that could fall as a blouse  
too. Harry let's him of course, peppering innocent kisses all over Louis' blushing face whenever the  
boy looked up at him.

"Sweet petal." Harry lifted Louis' face with his chin and kissed his nose. "What will you do to me?"

Breaking into laughter when he discovers why Louis wanted his shirt open, Harry unintentionally  
makes Louis feel silly about what he was doing. After the last button had popped, Louis made it  
obvious that he wanted to share the warmth of Harry's skin so he opened the halves and cuddled up  
against him. He tried closing the shirt around him but the task was unachievable.

"Oh sweetheart." Harry takes Louis by both his wrists and pulls him back onto his thighs. "You can  
do anything you want with me, petal."

Louis brightens like a ray of sunlight when Harry's the one to hold him close and wrap him up  
under his shirt. It still doesn't button up but this is progress anyway.

"Why were you so scared, petal?" Harry can feel the trembling on Louis' body even now, the  
aftermath of a frightening dream.

"B-Bad dream." Louis manages to say, looking over Harry's shoulder and out the window into the  
backyard.

"What happened in your bad dream?"

After his tremors hit a boiling point because of Harry's question, they settle and Louis' teeth no  
longer chatter. The boy hugs Harry around the neck and reassures himself that he's safe now.

"Wanna cuddle." He tells Harry, doe-eyed and honestly hoping that the man will adhere to his  
request.

Harry gives him a tight squeeze around his shoulders and Louis almost doesn't let his awful dream  
bother him anymore. It's still there though, the last lingering hanger in a coat closet down a hallway  
nobody will venture. The squeeze ends eventually and Louis wishes he was a feline so he could  
purr, blocked from anyone ever seeing him in the castle of Harry's big biceps.

"After a bath, okay?" Harry smacks a wet kiss on Louis' neck. "We have to make sure you're clean  
and warm, petal."

Louis can put up with that he supposes. He nods when Harry asks again to make sure he's okay with  
it. Louis appreciates the task of asking, and does not hesitate to lock arms around Harry's head when  
he's hoisted into the air. It's like a rollercoaster sometimes, and other times it was a little less fun.

"I remember having bubble baths as a child." Harry tells him in a drawl that captivates Louis'  
attention. "Right up until I was an adolescent."

When Harry doesn't go on to tell him why, Louis huffs quietly and tugs on a curly lock. Harry's  
chest rumbles as he either hates it or is passionately fond of the deed.

He's in the adjacent bathroom when Louis starts to freak out. Upon seeing the tub, he wiggles and  
gets himself out of Harry's arms. He _won't_ go in that tub ever. Harry tries to grab him but  
Louis' graceful enough to dodge any attempts at catching him.

"Petal!" Harry races after Louis' retreating form like he's chasing his heart with ten seconds to  
capture it.

For someone of Louis' build, the boy is fast and easily evasive. He's a clever little minx, avoiding  
Harry at every chance. Louis reaches the top of the stairs and before his first step downward Harry  
encircles his waist, heaving him up off the ground. Louis doesn't like that he's been caught and  
pushes down on Harry's forearms, scratching fruitlessly and his eyes tearing up.

"What was _that_, petal?" Harry's emeralds are blown wide with his recent sprinting.

He places Louis firmly on the ground but that's not near as enough as what's needed for the boy to  
stop resisting him. Harry has had enough of Louis by this point and shoves him against the railing  
post, crowding the boy in with both arms.

"Be still, petal." His fist slams into the wooden furnishing. "Stop trying to run away. _Damn it,  
Louis!_"

Louis immediately stops at the tone of Harry's frightening voice. He whimpers when he meets the  
man's eye and they're filled with vile anger, boiling rapidly to bring him this close to physical  
violence. To apologise, Louis slips his arms around Harry again and lays his head over his beating  
heart.

"What the Hell is wrong with you? Why did you run?" Harry won't have it.

He seizes Louis by his arms and yanks him backward where the boy can look him in the eye and see  
how _conflicted_ he's become. It's all this boy's fault that Harry couldn't think straight  
anymore, or Edward either.

"Sorry, Daddy." Such a sweet voice, such kindness that it thaws a little of Harry's fury.

"Answer the question, Louis." Harry's neck vein pulsates in rhythm with his anger. "Now!"

"D-Don't yell." Louis isn't looking at him, staring at his naked legs like they're new to him.

"Louis!"

Louis breaks free and shouts back. "Don't yell!"

He hates screaming so much and Harry won't listen to him. He's scared and how can he tell anyone  
that when they're shouting? Louis doesn't let Harry hold any part of him when he takes off down the  
opposite end of the hallway, running away from everything and everyone.

"Fuck." Harry painfully pulls his hair back. "He's not supposed to go in there."

Harry chases after him because he's guilty but too loyal a man to let his own crime go either. He  
heads on down the path Louis took, following the heavy breathing as it becomes darker like  
disappearing down the throat of a giant monster. Louis' not himself in his subspace. He can't defend  
himself or take care of himself. Harry _has_ to find him.

But the further in he goes, the more he thinks that Louis just vanished.

This part of the house is not renovated like every other wing. The wallpaper is still as it was a  
generation or two ago when it was first built. There was no electricity in this wing and only lamps  
went up in the afternoon just like the general public did in the seventeenth century.

Harry has to brush back more of his hair with his fingers, too familiar with this part of the house to  
need light. Louis isn't though and he needs to make sure the boy isn't fallen over somewhere.

"Lou?" He calls out to the darkness on either side of him, unafraid of anything that could be hiding  
in its bowels. "Petal? Come out, darlin'."

He doesn't get a response and keeps walking, now extracting his phone to use the flashlight for the  
first time. A door creaks somewhere further inward and he follows the sound.

* * * * *

Louis escapes to the tunnel of pitch black safety. At least he hopes it's safety. It doesn't smell like  
anyone has been in here for months, if not way more. He can't see anything so shuffles his bare feet  
along the carpeting to make sure he's walking on solid ground.

The ventilation is poor and Louis finds himself feeling chilly almost instantly. He hugs himself and  
walks in small steps, wishing he'd stolen Harry's shirt right off his shoulders at the very least.  
There's the sliver of light to his left and he can hear movement inside. Maybe it's Edward? He hopes  
so because he really needs a shirt. He steps toward the door that's cracked open and reaches his  
hand out, touching cold wood that's splintered and pushed it open.

Peeking inside, he discovers a brass tub that he's sure went out of any store centuries ago. How old  
is this home? He frowns at the little lion legs the tub has, standing all alone in the middle of the  
room with the windows boarded up and a rocking chair by the far wall.

"Master Tomlinson?" Gerard's voice comes from his left.

Louis jumps in a fright towards the right, trying to conceal and guard his chastity.  
He can see a table where Gerard is working from with a leather apron on and huge rubber gloves.  
Unfortunately, unlike regular tables that have spoons and apples, this ancient wooden artefact has  
one wax candle at the corner and an assortment of darkly shaded glass jars. Each jar contained acid,  
all the same but varying concentrations depending on how fast they wanted the body to disintegrate.  
Louis can't read the labels from where he's standing but he can see a skull and crossbones very  
clearly. He looks at Gerard, scared and confused.

"I don't know if the Masters want you in here, Louis." He says disapprovingly, hid bald head  
creasing up.

There's something in that tub and Louis can see it fairly well from here. He gasps when the face of  
Chef Robinson is made clear to him. There's a bed of liquid around the chef too but it's milky and  
definitely not water judging by the way it's sizzling, eating his flesh without being hungry.

"No, no, no. This is not good." Gerard is chewing his lip trying to figure out what to do now.  
Louis watches him with a shocked and honestly disbelieving demeanour. He trusted Gerard to be  
sane.

"I could keep a secret." Gerard finally concludes, clapping his hands together likes he's discovered  
uranium. "Can you, Master Louis?"

Louis doesn't like the term 'Master' at all. He's a petal to Harry so why is he a Master in here? He  
likes 'petal' better anyway.

The mad man look on Gerard's face is making him very uneasy and he wants the man to stop  
_looking_ at him that way. Staring with wide and frozen eyes, Louis doesn't notice Gerard  
move towards him.

"Louis?" The butler steps forward, hands raised with remnants of acid on his gloves.

Louis sees him just in time to bolt in the other direction, completely avoiding the touch of light acid  
on his skin. He races around the room, circling the tub before getting to the door with Gerard on his  
tail.

Shaking with fear and horrifying images of what could be planned for him, Louis desperately  
dashes past the table to exit. He hits the table's edge and cries out in pain when solid wood collides   
with his hip bone, but he can't go down now. The bottles rattle and the weakest ones roll off the  
table, smashing themselves as they free-fall to shattering deaths.

When Louis enters the passage again, he deftly avoids tripping over the long runway carpet. He sees  
a flashlight coming towards him and fears the worst so he runs in the opposite direction. It gets  
colder, darker where he goes. He squeezes down a much too narrow hallway and comes to a dead  
end.

A window taller than him overlooks a part of the forest at the side of the house, and a bit of the lake.  
It's getting darker outside as night falls. He can see the shadows of trees that invade the house in tall  
black ghost images. They leave him petrified but bursting with adrenaline.

"Petal!" Comes Harry's voice but it's too frightening a circumstance for him to know where the  
voice came from

He can't find his own voice. What if he calls out and something else gets to him before Harry? His  
heart hammers in his chest and his throat is gulping down air to just breathe. The window has no  
curtains he can hide behind and there's no carpet here for any warmth.

As hope abandons him for higher ground, Louis sucks up his crying and sits down on the ground  
with his legs under him. He curls up against a wall, picking at the wallpaper with his fingernails.  
They eventually start to bleed because the plastering medium was hard, sticking under his nails to  
puncture skin.

He covers his scream with his hand when a rat races past him, only recognisable by its scurrying  
rodent feet. It's unafraid of him and tries squeezing behind him and the wall. Louis falls over in his  
effort to get away, rubbing the part of his hip that made contact with the disgusting hair of that  
vermin.

It pursues him for a minute after that, never letting Louis be alone to ferment in his fear. Near the  
window, it follows him. Louis can't even see how big or small this creature is, just its whiskers  
poking his thighs and hands. When it's finally gone to the hole in the wall it created years ago,  
Louis hits his head against the wall and waits.

When someone does find him, it's the last person he ever thought would discover him hidden so  
deep inside this establishment.

"Knock knock." Gemma raps her knuckles against the hollow dry-wall.


	23. Chapter Twenty-Three

**"Knock knock." Gemma raps her knuckles against the hollow dry-wall.**

***NARRATOR'S POV***

Louis looks up at her filled with dread, mounting his nerves and arteries like hot mercury. He curls  
up even more as he tries to disappear into the wall. Maybe she's just taking a guess? How can she  
possibly see through all the blackness engulfing them?

"I can see you, you know." She sounds bored, stepping out of the obscenely narrow passageway to  
almost crush Louis' vermin friend's tail.

He remains quiet and motionless. His body is freezing and he's starting to stiffen in all his joints and  
muscles where the cold got to be too much. He wasn't a space heater - nor did he have someone  
who was present - so he began the terrible process of being chilled to death.

First, his teeth chattered.

The cold got to the calcium-rich molars via his sharp intakes of air, letting it heat up in his mouth  
for a long time before exhaling. He didn't want that much cold air so he took a few breaths.

"It took me-" Gemma takes up crouching in front of him, staring at his nude state with eyes of  
disgust. "-a whole year to find this spot. Wanna know why?"

Next, his ears and nose turned frosty red. He hated the cold here and wondered why suddenly it was  
so abundant. Even his eyelids got heavy, his eyeballs drying up and burning when he blinked.

"It's not meant to be found." She whispers to him, some voice lurking beneath her own and making  
it scratchy.

Louis turns his head and meets her line of vision. It's as cold and twisted as he feels inside. His  
fingers and toes were surely numb now, unable to act on command from the nervous system. That  
rat was about him again, but this time it offered warmth so he didn't care when it found a home  
against his abdomen.

"Look." She pinches Louis' waist and he's too close to shutting down his system to flinch. "Look up  
at the heart and soul of this house."

He's made to look up by the harshness of her thumb jerking his chin in the direction she aims. A  
sound meant to be a scream is born as such but dies a low gasp in his throat when suddenly light  
fills the room and he's staring at writing on the wall.

Writing in _blood_ on the wall because it'd red and dripping even after so many years, decades  
of having time to dry up. Louis' scream gears up but Gemma smothers it with her hand, still smiling  
as rivulets of red dripped down onto the floor.

_'It was better in Hell.'_

Following the red droplets as they gravitated towards the floor, Louis' gaze falls on the source of the  
blood. At least a dozen rats lay split, cut and possibly chewed open by a hole in the wall too big to   
be their own home. The blood is definitely bound by some spell, for it doesn't stop rolling until  
Louis feels it strike his feet.

"How cute." Gemma touches the blood, rolling it between her fingers.

The rat that followed Louis was not trying to harass him. It was just as terrified as him and sought  
safety in a creature bigger than it was. The rat turned out to be much smaller, a white mouse with  
long pink tail. It burrowed into Louis' tummy without harming him, squeaking when Gemma caught  
it.

Louis used what strength he had left to take the creature back, protecting it in the cradle of his  
palms away from her.

Is this what death felt like? Was it finally over? Louis hopes so at this point. It's too exhausting to go  
on when every move he made meant a new enemy, a new trap to death.

Edward was unhappy with him. Harry was sick of trying to help him. His mother is dead. His father  
won't miss him after he wakes up and realises whose fault it is that his coma came about. Niall  
resented him as a friend. He had a mouse in his hands he couldn't protect and his sisters hardly  
knew he existed.

No one would miss him. He hoped so. The last thing he wants is more misery caused by his actions  
and his _words._ He's surrounded by monsters but considers himself the worst.

So now, with the flickering of a brief light interval that was awarded to him, Louis' vision began to  
dim. His internal organs were shutting down and his mind was becoming too slow to function.

"I want you to scream." Gemma sits down cross-legged, snapping her fingers by his ear. "Scream  
and let my brother find you."

Louis couldn't. He was too charred inside, too spent and broken. He hasn't eaten or drank all day  
and his sleep was little. The mouse in his hands didn't let him give up, sniffing his fingers when  
they loosened just the slightest.

The writing on the wall was flickering now, but not the light. Like an illusion or mirage it began to  
fade. Louis watched the blood drain away and the wallpaper come back clean. The hole in the wall  
was still there but the mutilated rats were gone.

Suddenly a scream was heard. It was _his_ voice but it wasn't _him_. The disembodied  
voice wasn't shouting a name or any word other than a long, unrelenting cry. Gemma was gone as  
quickly as she came and Louis fell onto the floor. His side got stuck on the sticky wood, hand  
falling open and the mouse tumbling out. It crawled back into any crevice it could find.

"Louis!" There was a voice that answered and warm air tugged on Louis' ear.

A person breathed over him but Harry only arrived after ten heartbeats, and Edward wasn't there  
until Harry shouted for him. The hot air was gone as soon as Harry fell to his knees, speaking with  
just moving lips but no sound as he urgently removed his shirt to drape over Louis.

Edward did the same when he arrived. They both looked so worried that even in Louis' dehydrated  
and uncomprehending state, he wondered why. He felt a heavy coat being thrown over him and   
closed his eyes. The mouse never released him, feeling indebted to the boy who couldn't save  
himself but protected it.

"Shit! He's so cold." Harry got to his feet and picked Louis up into his arms carefully.

"Get him out. Now." Edward chased his brother down the narrow hallway, getting them both out  
before the darkness seemed never-ending.

Harry didn't stop running until he saw their bedroom down the correct hallway, then never pausing  
once before he got Louis to the bathroom. Edward was running too, rushing to keep up with his  
brother with bloodstained clothing and hands.

And if he heard someone behind him, felt something breathe down his neck he made sure to not  
turn around.

* * * * *

"He's warming up." Harry ran his fingers over Louis' cheek that was finally its healthy pink  
complexion.

He had Louis in the large tub with him, on his lap and knocked out on his shoulder. They filled the  
porcelain construction with hotter than warm water and each worked on rejuvenating the body heat  
that Louis needed. Edward sat opposite them with the boy's feet in his lap, massaging them very  
haphazardly due to inexperience.

"Thank fuck." Edward kissed whichever part of their petal he could reach and his lips landed  
squarely on his knee.

Harry was burning up in the water with sweat on his brow and every part of him that wasn't under  
water. He couldn't bring himself to care though, so he pressed his mouth to Louis' neck and rubbed  
the boy's tummy some more.

"What was he doing in there, Harry?" Edward kept on working his hands over Louis' legs, slipping  
closer so he could lather up the thighs of his fantasies.

"He just-" Harry pinched the bone of his nose. "He fucking _ran_ and I couldn't catch him in  
time."

"Why did he run?" Edward permanently placed his mouth on the point closest to Louis' knee. He  
tasted the water and the lavender skin.

"He had a bad dream." Harry's fingers combed through Louis' wet hair, the trickle of water now a  
soothing sound. "I didn't listen to him when he said he wanted to cuddle."

Edward repositions Louis against his brother's chest so he's more comfortable and least likely to get  
kinks in his neck. He takes Louis' lifeless hand and holds it like he's conscious. His lips separate to  
suck a little of the taste on Louis' skin into his mouth.

"I hope he's still in subspace." Edward says, sounding a little regretful. "If he is, when he comes  
back he won't remember anything."

Harry agreed and nodded to show that he did. He set the sponge and soap down, feeling the first  
signs of his petal waking up by the twitching of his fingers against his hip.

"He's waking up." He told Edward, them both preparing for something - anything - positive to come  
from this.

Louis slowly slipped out of the glove he had been packed into where everything was cold and walls  
dripped with blood from centuries ago. He awoke with a gasp and not a thrilled one, his arms  
flailing and splashing water in an unhappy accident.

"Shh. Shh, petal." Harry's voice shook like _he_ was caught spending his slumber in a demon's  
home.

It wasn't easy to calm Louis down. He resisted them with all his weak might, causing even Edward  
to sound pained when he had to pin Louis down. Blue eyes had turned red with strain and fatigue,  
the panic within the boy's small body turning toxic and terrifying.

"Look at me." Edward forced Louis to stop pushing Harry's arms away. "Look here, darlin'."

Louis had to be held and made to look at Edward. His expression told of a horror inside him, a new  
memory that will cripple him in some way. Neither twin could help him if he ever remembered that  
room.

"I'm real." Edward put Louis' hands on his face. "I'm not going to hurt you, baby."

The arms around him weren't Edward's and when Louis finally settled at the reminder of knowing  
this man, he scratched harmlessly at Harry's forearms. He made a tiny noise of discontent when he  
couldn't turn around.

"He's real too, petal." Edward watches as Louis relaxes into Harry.

Unfortunately the peace didn't last long for Louis was suddenly frantic all over again. He tried  
standing up but Harry wouldn't let him. Louis was searching for something and he got very  
unsettled when they weren't letting him look.

"What is it, petal?" Edward had Louis in the curve of his arm, his bicep and forearm trapping the  
boy against his shoulder. "What are you looking for?"

Louis held onto Edward like a child. He breathed quickly and in short pants, his head turned to the  
side and hair untidy on his head. All that ended when Louis got see a small white furball rustling  
amongst his clothing.

"Sweet, sweet boy." Edward had become shaky himself, overwhelmed all on his own by such a  
violent outburst. "You're safe now, petal. Do you know that?"

Instead of answering, Louis looked down at his lap. He couldn't find his voice. He didn't know  
where to begin searching for it or how to figure it out. Something he saw in that room, the breath  
that blew puffs into his ear. It all took away more from him than any amount of conventional  
trauma. What was in there was _evil_ and he lived under the same roof as it.

"Petal?" Harry leaned forward. 

When his chest pressed along Louis' back the boy jumped towards Edward and checked over his  
shoulder to see who it was.

"Oh _no, petal._" Harry was so depraved in his voice, as if anguished by this behaviour.  
Edward felt it too, and to no lesser a degree. He felt like someone lodged an eternally hot poker in  
his chest. Watching Louis who met as so fiery and assertive, broken down by a pile-up of misery is  
cracking to the toughest of shells.

"He's not talking." Edward pointed out when he held Louis' head in his hands, searching those eyes  
but they were blank and giving nothing away. "Why isn't he talking?"

Louis wanted to shout that he was lost in his own mind, his own body. He couldn't get a grasp on A  
from B anywhere and he's become totally dependent. For now he struggled to think and breathe at  
the same time, talking could kill him.

"I should have made you talk." Edward groaned, the poker going deeper. "I should not have what I  
did. Petal, I'm so sorry. Baby, talk to me."

"What?" Harry frowned as he crossed an arm over Louis' chest protectively. "What did you do?"

Edward sighed in disgrace, giving Louis another kiss on his forehead. "When you were gone he had  
an attack. A panic attack. He slept and awoke completely blank for a few seconds." He stopped to  
breathe, memorising the look in Louis' eye that he sees now as he saw it before. "I wanted to leave  
him alone to _think_ but I couldn't and.....you found us."

It was his fault Louis was like this, and he knew it very well. If he'd gotten the boy to talk about his  
mother and the Russian then maybe he'd be better equipped to handle this. Maybe he'd be talking  
and willing to comprehend. Now looking at Louis was heartbreaking because the boy was pushed  
and pushed, finally at breaking point.

"Fuck, you bastard." Harry wasn't going to let Edward hold any part of Louis now.

He watched over him like a baby and protected him like he should be protected. Edward didn't  
deserve to have a piece of someone so beautiful when he wouldn't appreciate it.

Louis started to shake but it wasn't from a fever or a horrible recollection. Harry stood up in the tub  
and stepped out with Louis trying not to fidget in his grip. Louis only fussed when he walked  
straight into the bedroom rather than going for the white furball amongst his clothes.

"Okay, okay." Harry let the boy wrap around like a vine as he comforted him in his ear. Louis was  
so committed to that mouse and nobody but he understood why.

"He can't touch that thing." Edward tied a towel around his hips, eyes on Louis. _Always_ on  
Louis.

"Wash it?" Louis was still trying to reach for the creature and Harry had a Hell of a time restraining  
him. "Can we do that with mice?"

"Think so." Edward flicked his hair to the side when it crept onto his eyelashes. "I'll do it."

Edward isn't too careful with their petal's new pet. He hates the sight of it and snatches up a pair of  
surgical gloves from the mirrored cabinet before he even touched the poor thing. It tries escaping  
him so many times but he'll recapture and re-do the process of washing a million times if it means  
Louis will be a little closer to happy.

Finally the damn thing is clean with sneezes from near its whiskers and looking like a newborn bird  
with its pink skin visible from under the fur. Edward dries it without snapping its neck while Harry  
gets Louis dressed in appropriate clothing.

"Do you like this?" Harry was internally begging with Louis to start talking, those prayers visible in  
the way he stared so intently at the fidgety boy.

Louis wasn't even looking at him, focus wandering to everything else as he stood with a towel over  
his shoulders.

"Petal." He said firmly but softly and his target looked at him. "Take off the towel, baby."

Feeling fuzzy as he tried to process the command, Louis dug his nails into the fluffy white towel  
around him. It was wet but warm and he couldn't stand the cold even for a beat.

Harry sighed and walked up to him, taking the towel off Louis' body and dropping it to the floor. He  
thinks briefly about how he'd let his own mind drift into getting distracted at the sight of Louis'  
body. At this point in time he's riddled with less physically pleasing thoughts.

"Up." He says as he raises Louis' arms for him, pulling a large sports jersey over his head. He put  
them down. "Good boy."

Louis was content to be dressed this way and go fetch his pet from Edward in the bathroom, but  
Harry had underwear in his hand he had to put on. Harry got on his knees and tapped Louis' right  
leg with his whole hand.

"Up." He said, hoping the boy will understand.

He feels a very small victory when Louis does lift his foot quickly enough for the underwear to slip  
on. The process is repeated with the second leg and Louis gets the reward of a kiss on his cheek.

"My good boy." Harry delays a little bit longer and embraces Louis tightly, wholeheartedly.

His nose buries itself in Louis' drying hair and he breathes in deeply what he can salvage from the  
smaller male. Louis in return touches Harry's biceps with cautious grazes, settling in a firm hold. It's  
good enough for them both. Louis' left stranded in the whirlwind, hurricane but also desolate  
isolation of his empty mind. He's walking from wall to wall in a body he's had since birth, feeling  
utterly foreign in it.

Wall to wall, crevice to corner and nook to cranny. Nothing to find and nowhere to go. He wants to  
scream at the top of his lungs and tell Harry that he's miserable but fighting it. The battle's  
becoming harder because his mind is draining itself of what intelligence it once had. It was  
dwindling and he had to get it back before it was all gone.

Edward appeared from the confines of the bathroom still wearing surgical gloves and holding the  
rodent in his right hand. While the creature displayed no signs of appreciation towards Edward,   
once given to Louis it wrapped its tail around the boy's finger and sniffed his hand. Louis is happy  
to see him, another survivor of the memory he wants to erase.

"Let's feed you, petal." Harry says slowly, taking Louis with him to the door so Edward can be left  
alone to put clothes on.

It's a sound kick in the teeth for Edward with a deafening crack to top it all off. Louis wasn't at fault  
for this and he knew that, but he couldn't bring himself to admit that he was an idiot today and  
might have prevented all this if he controlled himself. He turned into a beast with no willpower  
around Louis, wanting always and taking even when he wasn't offered.

He netted up those emotions for later and joined them downstairs for a meal he's been craving. The  
kitchen is spotless and no employees are to be seen, or Gemma for that matter. In the lounge sat  
Louis cross-legged on a sofa directly facing the television that he ignored, his thumb brushing back  
and forth over the mouse's body. He was gentle even then, not pressing too hard or scratching.

"What are you giving him?" Edward asks when he walks past his brother to the fridge.

"Future Life." Harry responds, mixing in the high protein cereal with cold milk in a deep bowl.

That will put weight on Louis quickly and healthily. It's a good choice and Edward let's Harry know  
this. He takes a bottle of water with him to the lounge and sits on a couch alongside Louis'. The boy  
had taken the largest, but he didn't use any extra space.

Louis didn't seem to take notice of Edward. He sat with his legs like a pretzel on the couch's  
cushion, unaffected by everything around him and it _scared_ his companions. Should this be  
happening at all? They weren't able to handle something like this no matter their desire to.

"Petal?" He tried speaking through the break in his voice, sitting forward with his elbows on his  
knees.

It took thirty seconds for Louis to realise that it was _him_ being called. With his head bowed,  
he moved his eyes to his peripheral and looked at Edward without turning towards him. It could be  
cute if it wasn't because he was terrified it _might not be_ Edward.

But it was. It really was Edward studying him like a priceless framework and he smiled because he  
knows Edward. He sits up straighter and his teeth peeked out from behind his lips when he smiled  
with familiarity. It made something pleasant and painful swell in Edward's chest.

"Hey, petal." Edward extended his hand towards Louis, hoping this could work.

It did. Louis was happy to accept that gesture and wake up to go where it took him. Edward sat back  
and made room for the boy on his lap, helping Louis to position himself comfortably.

"What are you doing?" Harry did not look glad when he skipped both descending stairs to stride up  
to them.

Edward had to calm him down before he made Louis afraid further. "He's fine with it."

"No." Harry' hands sealed so tightly around the bowl of cereal that Edward thought it would break.

Louis buried his face in Edward's shirt, holding his mouse friend close so it didn't get hurt either. He  
fisted the plaid and faded material as he tried to ignore Harry because he was comfortable here. No  
need to move.

"You're scaring him." Edward covered Louis' one exposed ear. "Shut up and give me the cereal."

Harry huffed out in dire exasperation and sat down beside his infuriating sibling, not surrendering  
the food. He mixes it one more time before trying to talk to Louis.

"Hey, petal?" He traces Louis' delicate cheekbone, and Louis only flinches once before raising his  
head. "There you are."

Louis started to eat but not with his own hands because they were still very uncoordinated. Harry  
fed him by the tablespoon, each one full and Louis swallowed without almost bringing the food  
back up. One bowl was polished off but Harry wouldn't be appeased until Louis made him stop, so  
he got another and then another.

Louis' body had been starved and needed the energy back. Just this menial type of food had him  
feeling a little more welcome in his own body suit, starting to remember these little things as they  
happened. He shook his head when he was full and sat back against a cushion. Edward kissed his  
forehead and the boy smiled broadly.

The mouse sat on Louis' tummy over his shirt, eating a cube of cheese without a care much for the  
jostling around it.

"Petal." Edward placed his hand over Louis' thigh, rubbing back and forth his thumb.

Louis looked at him and his eyes weren't so empty this time, void of a sense of mutual intelligence.  
It was coming back but the worst of the memories had yet to resurface so the hardest hurdle was yet  
to be passed.

"Do you know where you are?" Edward doesn't think Louis spent time trying to figure that out yet.

Louis' eyes darted to every wall in the room and when it reached the window he made a noise. An  
unpleasant sound before cowering his way into the fold of Edward's arms. Harry woke up and drew  
the curtains, shutting out the shadows of tall trees that were growing on their floor.

"Better?" Edward made Louis look, just a set of cerulean jewels peeking out from his shoulder.

Louis liked the change so he nodded and smiled gratefully at Harry when the other brother returned.  
Tree shadows are monstrous and he's glad Harry came back to him.

"What do you think he saw?" Harry watched the mouse abandon Louis' shirt and crawl up into his  
hand.

Edward shook his head, eyes closed as he shoved the possibilities out. "We're closing off that place.  
It never should have been open."

"What about-"

"It'll have to wait." Edward cut him off. 

His brother was going to question whether or not they'd still keep doing what they did before the  
Madhouse, as the promised. They couldn't until Louis was back with them.

"Look at him." Edward cupped Louis' cheek and his fingers slipped out to behind his head. Staring  
earnestly into picture perfect blue eyes, he spoke ominously. "What did you see in there, petal?"

Louis was emotionless and he looked back at Edward without depth like he used to. Every look,  
each touch and any word from their boy had meaning. It still did but now it was much weaker, far  
less impressive.

To Louis it was like being stuck in a cage with not even a door fantasize about escaping through.  
The bars had thickened and now he's just locked up on a steel cube that's cold and where writing  
appears on the walls. He's terrified and cold and alone.

He sometimes sees a door but it's a mirage and doesn't last long to even grant him the mercy of an  
illusion. With nowhere to go and nothing to hide behind, he sits in the center of this cage. All he can  
do is listen to the voices he heard in that _room._ See the dead rats and the bleeding walls.  
Louis wants to shout for help and maybe reassure the twins that he's here, not completely gone.  
He'll come back if he knows how to, has enough energy to do so.

All that comes out is a tear. One tear that slips out of the corner of his eye and dies at the pad of  
Edward's thumb.

There's still meaning, Edward convinces himself. He wipes the dampness away and brands a kiss to  
that spot. Louis has to come back. He has to find his way back.

"Come back to us." Edward's words are throttled by what he's trying to contain and not scare Louis  
with. "I have something to say and I won't say it until you can say it back."


	24. Chapter Twenty-Four

***NARRATOR'S POV***

"Petal!" Harry roared, unintentionally sounding very lethal.

It's been two weeks. _Two weeks_ since Louis' stumble into a forbidden part of their house  
and since then, that entire adjoined hallway has been closed off with two huge doors. Only Edward  
had the key.

But that's not why he's angry. He doesn't mind at all that he had to stay up with Edward for over  
twenty-hours and put in those doors, working through manual labour until his body was sore and  
done for. He adores their petal and would never be angry because he had to do something to protect  
him. What made it all better was Louis sitting on the floor watching them for hours at a time  
installing the double doors.

_Louis always had that damn mouse with him nowadays and even when he didn't, it followed  
him. Today he sat on the course carpet in one of Harry's T-shirts, drinking from the bottle that  
Edward brought up. He was discreet about it but the man saw anyway when he wasn't looking,  
however didn't take the bottle away._

_"Hello there, darlin'." Edward came to crouch near him minutes later. "Did you eat?"_

_Louis nodded and smiled. Everything about him was the same except those eyes, which told  
anyone of the prison the whole personality of the missing boy was locked within._

_"Did you like it?" Edward coaxes, rubbing Louis' hand between his palms._

_Another nod and a bigger smile. Edward chuckled and leaned forward, planting a firm kiss on  
Louis' forehead. "Good boy, petal. I miss you, baby."_

_It was as if he spoke not to the Louis anyone else can see, but whatever **their** Louis was  
blocked into. He let the boy know everyday that he wanted him back and that it was vital to keep  
trying. Usually right after these moments, he'd get a small indication that the Louis he lost was still  
there._

_This time it was Louis' signature smile. Not a shy, kitten-like one that he recently got in  
abundance. The smile he saw now was beauty and a little high on raw confidence. It creased the  
corners of Louis' mouth and was gone in a heartbeat. That was always the toughest time._   
_Edward leaned forward again and with burning eyes, laid a firm kiss on Louis' forehead. The  
kind that paid no mind to gentility because he wanted to convey his devotion more than not leave a  
bruise._

_"You're breaking me, petal. I don't I'll survive it."_

_He forced himself to depart from Louis and return to working, nailing and drilling to hoist two  
heavy duty doors into place. Harry fixed the door handles with the lock, making only one key on  
purpose. With the silver object in his hand, he made his way over to Louis and sat with him on the  
floor._   
_"Hey, petal." He circled Louis' shoulders and kissed his cheek. "You look beautiful."_

_He got a blush but it wasn't the blush he was looking for, with wrinkled eyes and a shy smile.  
Louis now only tilted his head his cheeks got a little rosier._

_"You're going to be safe now." He said, motioning towards the doors. "Nothin' will harm you  
anymore. You know that, yes?"_

_Louis looked at him and inside he was pulling his hair out, because **this is not it.**  
Despite all these years of psychological conditioning and tutoring, here he was stuck in his own  
head. He needed a nudge, something to convince him that it's worthwhile coming back because his  
subconscious was stronger than his ability to withstand its brutality._

_With every push from him gave a shove back and it ended in a punishing recollection of that  
**room** where he was made to feel helpless, cornered, preyed on. He looks at Harry but the  
same light he knew Edward had and gave him hope with, did not reside in this man's heart. It was  
still too early for a man one level away from sane to cherish truly._

_Harry nuzzled Louis' neck and it was sweet, gentle. It was not **enough** though._   
_"Why aren't you here, petal?" Harry pleaded his question, keeping his voice low. "Why aren't  
you with me and Edward? Did we do something wrong?"_

_**No!** Louis wanted to shout it but it was futile. He instead nuzzled back and took control  
of his hand, just the right one, to grip Harry's shirt. He didn't want them to give up but he felt like he  
was giving up on himself._

However, after all that strenuous work that left Harry feeling one step below a pile of manure, he  
_does not_ want to walk into the kitchen and find a broken fucking glass just after he steps on  
it.

Louis has been irresponsible lately and it's forgiven by everyone because he's fragile at the moment.  
Every day that passed, he showed a few more signs of coherence. It's what made life okay when  
he'd crawl into Edward or Harry's lap with his mouse pet and just cuddle.

"Louis!" Harry removes the glass piece from his foot and curses to himself when those light  
footsteps run upstairs instead of towards him.

This is becoming too much for him and he won't dare shy away from admitting it. He never thought  
this would happen and maybe he's been successful in caring for a completely helpless Louis thus far  
but he doesn't have the _temper_ to keep on doing it.

He storms upstairs, taking the steps two at a time. He's well aware of where Louis will be now that  
he's scared and walks straight to the bedroom with blood dripping everywhere he walked.

Whenever one brother was remotely upset with him, Louis ran to the other. If both were angry he  
made a valiant attempt to run away from them both.

Edward was in the bedroom when Louis had ran in just before getting on his lap, making himself as  
small as possible in the hopes that Harry won't find him here.

"Hey there." He clears his throat and mind of the reverie he was in, looking down at the bundle in  
his lap. "What happened?"

Louis whimpered and hid his face behind both his hands, his pet mouse falling to the creases of his  
shirt where it lay at rest like nothing was wrong.

"Louis?" Edward made to remove the boy's hands from his face but he just wasn't allowed to.  
"Come on, baby. What's wrong?"

He heard his brother shouting Louis' petname and muttered a swear word, rubbing Louis' back as he  
made him sit more upright. His lips found a sweaty point on Louis' hairline and he kissed it,  
winding his constricting arms around the boy as a steel band.

"Do not ever fear anything, petal." He spoke soothingly, and Louis heard every sincere word. "Not  
my brother. Not that room. Not any nightmares. I'll protect you from them _all_."

The door nearly come apart on its hinges when Harry stormed through it, the barrier falling back  
and hitting the wall. He looked positively beside himself in fury.

"Harry." Edward stood up from the bed's edge, stepping between Louis and Harry protectively.  
"What happened?"

"He broke a fucking glass, that's what!" Harry's terribly loud voice made Louis wince, holding onto  
Edward's arm with one hand and his pet with the other.

"How is that something to terrorise him about?"

Harry's eyes narrowed to beads. "Because he _left_ it on the floor and I had to bloody walk on  
it."

Edward sighs deeply and thinks back to when the Hell he started becoming the mediator in these  
issues. He used to simply either let Harry go crazy or not on a person if and when said person  
offended him. Now, he's standing between the beast that lingered in the green saucers of Harry's  
eyes and Louis who behaved much less like a twenty year old.

"Fuck. Fine, okay." Edward rubbed his temples and tried not to yawn. "How's your foot?"

"Stopped bleeding." Harry hasn't lightened his mood since he walked in. "I'm going to shower. I  
don't want him here when I come out."

"Who the Hell said you make those decisions?" Edward forgot about the boy holding onto him and  
glared daggers at his brother.

"I don't want to see him for the rest of today, Edward." Harry turned his back to walk away.  
"You lousy son of a bitch." The other muttered, too loudly not to be heard.

Harry froze in his tracks and looked over his shoulder. "What?"

"You're the one who fucking _nagged_ me about wanting him in the first place!"

"Well I've taken care of him up until this point, _haven't I?_" Harry was feral in his glower,  
both males now forgetting Louis' presence as it shrunk back further and further.

"You're the one who wishes he wasn't here!" Edward seethed, something telling him to stop but he  
couldn't.

Louis gasped and looked between them, even the major part of him that was locked up stood to  
attention. _Psychopaths_ didn't want him. How deep of a nuisance was he?

"You don't even look at him until he wants actual attention." Harry snarls, eyes turning black like  
man-made pits in his skull.

Edward was not succumbing to his exhaustion only to lose this fight. "He's not a motherfucking cat,  
Harry!"

"No-" Harry stood up in Edward's face challengingly. "-but you know you wish you could back and  
make sure you didn't even meet him."

Louis wanted to run away at this point. He couldn't even hide under the bed until the shouting  
stopped, so he sunk to the floor and concealed the mouse he held on his shoulder. It squeaked and  
sniffed at his ear, settling down when he recognised the environment.

Edward was red in the face with his rage and Louis felt so insecure thinking about how much they  
really hated him. What did they want him for? Why did they treat him so specially? He should have  
known.

But it wasn't over because Edward was at his wit's end when he pushed Harry back. It wasn't an  
easy task considering his sibling was over six feet of muscle, but then again so was he. Louis  
watched only because he couldn't turn away, was too afraid that they'd grab him and throw him out.  
"Don't you _dare_ point a finger at me!" Edward's convicting, accusative thunder made Louis'  
ears ring. "Fuck you, you ungrateful idiot! I'd go back and relive the day I met Louis a thousand  
times if I could!"

"Oh really?!" Harry reorganised himself and with the stealth he used to recover his spot in Edward's  
close proximity, Louis feared that he'd walk right through him.

He didn't. Edward stopped him because Edward always stopped anyone who got too close to the  
edge.

"How much time do you spend with him everyday?" Harry ventured into the dimension of testing  
Edward's patience.

"How many times do you wake up a night to sit for two fucking hours downstairs with him?"  
Edward bites back with a hiss. "You see him when he's like this but I see him when he's bloody  
ruined."

Harry does thankfully sober up a bit from his fit of anger but it's a short-lived moment of peace.  
Louis is back to covering his ears and wishing they never found him. He never meant to bring them  
difficulty. He wants to leave so badly but he's useless outside this house.

"Don't look me in the eye and lie, brother." Harry said through clenched teeth, his teeth appearing  
sharp as well. "You resent him and you know that's the truth."

"You're as unappreciative now as you've always been!" Edward shouted, deep sincerity. "You take  
and take and suddenly Louis isn't good enough for you because he can't suck your dick."

"I care for him as much as you do, Edward. You wake up with him for two hours a night but I had  
bloody carried him for an hour straight everytime he had a nightmare about that room!"

"It's not a contest and I thought you said I didn't care at all!" Edward's voice cracks when he reached  
the last two words.

"Because you don't-"

Edward took an oscillating swing at Harry and it landed him square in the jaw. Harry stumbled but  
was too firmly planted on the ground to fall over. His suddenly violent brother didn't regret it until  
his rant was over.

"_Enough_ with your childishness!" He raved, continuing immediately afterwards. "Louis is  
_important_ to me-" He proclaimed without restraint. "-because I fucking fell in love with him  
and I don't know how to deal with it! You can complain all you want but I'll walk over all the damn  
glass if it brings him back!"

Edward was dog tired by the time he realised what he'd done.


	25. Chapter Twenty-Five

**"_Enough_ with your childishness!" He raved, continuing immediately afterwards. "Louis  
is _important_ to me-" He proclaimed without restraint. "-because I fucking fell in love with  
him and I don't know how to deal with it! You can complain all you want but I'll walk over all the  
damn glass if it brings him back!"**

**Edward was dog tired by the time he realised what he'd done.**

***NARRATOR'S POV***

Everyone in the room is staring at Edward like he's a new life form. Harry who had staggered back  
from a punch to the cheek and used the wall for support. Louis who was no longer hiding in his  
little shadow by the cupboard's legs.

Edward didn't regret saying it. He wasn't just tired from physical labour, but from _two weeks_  
of waiting and getting nothing when he wanted everything. He didn't count on this mental  
headspace lasting as long as it is, and now he's hardly a put-together man walking on two feet.  
He's miserable and he wants his petal to love him, _God damn it!_.

For Louis this was _it_. He finally had that push he was counting on but was kept from all this  
time, letting his demon of a subconscious drain him of everything. There was no reason to stay here  
when he could finally sacrifice every ounce of will he had to break free.

Harry was flabbergasted. He could only stare at his older brother with his hand frozen on his loose  
jaw, trying to mend things as the cut got deeper.

"Edward?" Hands slipped around the man's middle because Louis was behind him. He held on  
tightly when the man spun around, fortunately shocked and glad.

He got Louis back and the boy looked awful in ways not many could see, but that didn't matter.  
Where Louis during these two weeks was bright and dapper, now he was baggy and slightly  
malnourished. Nobody brought up how medically impossible it is to simply switch minds and  
become this way, but this wasn't science.

Louis had given himself something close a bleeding aneurisym in his struggle to resurface. His legs  
were wobbly and his knees knocked together when he walked shiftily, but Edward secured his  
stature with both hands and it made his heart race.

The boy's clothes were the only things that were the same. What had overcome Louis now left him  
half his regular size and twice as emotional. Under his eyes were swollen blue bags of exhaustion,  
his fingers were shaky and pale, his ribs were visible through his skin and his hair was lifeless. The  
sharpness of his cheekbones had sunken to something unappealing, and his lips were so dry that  
they hurt.

"Petal." Edward held both sides of Louis' face and kissed him deeply. The state of breathe and skin  
was of no concern to him. 

He had Louis for two weeks but it wasn't Louis. His Louis was trapped inside his own mind and  
body, each day clawing at a rope to get free. The mind is that powerful, that terrifying a force. It's an  
unspoken truth that the mental capacity of Louis not all that played a giant role in keeping him  
locked up and away from these twins.

Such things in evil have existed for millennia and like all old things, there was a secret to be told. It  
existed on this land for generations before the first Styles found it. Here it was again overtaking  
something important in their lives because after years of being dormant, it had to taste flesh too.  
Louis was crying when Edward pulled off the kiss. The man smiled despite that reaction and wiped  
away Louis' salty streaks. He kissed those stains over and over until he's certain they were on him  
too.

"Come on. Shh. Don't cry, my petal." Edward kissed Louis' wet lips as the boy sobbed, hugging him  
close and feeling the jittery vibe from him.

A door slammed and Louis was spooked but it was nothing harmful, just the realisation that the  
room was now empty of Harry. Edward couldn't bring himself to chase after him at the moment. He  
held Louis' face and smothered him with affection because he could, because he will. Louis was  
breathless after his crying, his head thumping and stomach growling.

"Food, petal? Are you hungry, baby?" Edward checks, needing to bend his knees so he could look  
Louis in the eye.

Louis' too weak to nod now so Edward decides to feed him anyway, and hurriedly picks the boy up  
into his arms and let Louis fall limp in them as he carried him downstairs. The boy was barely  
managing to keep his head up, falling into unconsciousness as his body betrays him.

"Stay here, petal." Edward said more to himself than Louis as he set the frail boy down on the  
couch. "Can you chew, baby?"

"N-N-N-" Louis tried. He wanted to get better for this new reason.

Edward left Louis alone in the living room while he raced to fix one of the water bottles with the  
weakest form of a high protein cereal. It had a nozzle to make swallowing easier for the boy without  
choking him. He mixed the cereal with cold milk and shook it up in the bottle before returning to  
his petal.

"Open your mouth, petal." He said gently but firmly.

Louis parted his paper dry lips with a strangled moan and took the nozzle of the bottle in between  
them. He choked on the first try but there was enough to try again. Edward held his head up  
supportively and whispered in his ear about how good he's being.

Maybe it was the mangy placebo effect but Edward felt like Louis was physically getting better  
already. His eyes were able to open fully and his coughs were more alive, drier and made a hoarse  
wheezing noise on each out-take. Edward was uncaring towards such things and fitted himself  
behind Louis' pulling him up between his legs and just _holding him._

"_God_, petal." He pressed his face into Louis' neck and wrapped his body around the boy. 

Louis held him back, his fingers around Edward' bicep as he released fresh tears on his sensitive  
skin and and wiped them on a shirt that wasn't his. His body shivered with each sob and Edward's  
face was moulded to a steady frown, clinging to the boy because what if this is a dream? He won't  
stand for it. He closes his eyes and takes in everything Louis surrounds him with.

"E-Edw-Edward." Louis said against the tides of clattering from his teeth.

"Shh." Edward brought his bent knee up under Louis' body, the boy's thighs resting over his femur  
and their feet aligned even though Edward's legs were bent while Louis' weren't. "Shh, don't talk."

"I-I-I lo-love you t-t-too." Louis didn't let him ignore it, and smiled for a small skip of Edward's  
heartbeat.

"Fuck." Edward plasters himself to Louis and has never felt so full of belonging once before. "Fuck.  
Fuck. Fuck, petal."

Louis knew it was a happy string of swear words and found it in him to fall asleep, but it was not an  
easy process with flashing images of reddened wallpaper and headless rodents.

* * * * *

Harry hears his brother's confession of _love_ he feels like smashing something connected to  
his body into a wall. He wants it to hurt on the outside as much as it hurts on the inside. His nails  
scrape the wall and uneven paint dents get under his nails, aiding him in his rise and escape route.  
He knows they don't even notice him as he barges out into the hallway, filled with emotions he  
wished he could banish along with all his efforts to rule Louis' heart.

He _tries_. He really does, but maybe he isn't doing it right like Edward is? Was? Louis is so  
important to him and he wanted to have a revelation too but it wasn't coming. It wasn't in his heart  
that he loved Louis yet.

Where he finds himself is outside Crawlers nightclub giving the bouncer a hundred bucks without  
making a flinch and going in ahead of the queue. He had to pass up his hurt and remorse with  
alcohol, maybe more but mainly alcohol.

Harry didn't understand himself well enough yet to know that the state of his mind is nowhere near  
as stable as Edward's and love will come harder to him. There will be more bonding needed, more  
time together and he was on the right track but also couldn't communicate well enough to learn that.  
He'd throw it all away and become aggressive when he learnt that this was his foolishness.  
The cycle was repetitive amongst psychopaths. They wanted it all and they wanted it _now._ If  
it didn't happen, they'd act out.

He places his order at the bar with an unsettled but - lucky for her - calm about it bartender. The  
first glass arrives and he downs it in one go, burning his throat and liberating the space between his  
lungs. He slides it back to get refilled.

This club is well known in Middleston for being one of the best night hangouts. People always  
packed up this place and the lights were same neon blue every night, black smoke where that didn't   
reach. Laser pointers with green and red strobe lights focused on the dance floor where bodies were  
packed together. Dancers moved against one another irrespective of identity and gender, the music  
too loud and too fulfilling to be ignored.

He does this for a very long time, taking sips of his alcohol and absorbing the atmosphere of  
shouting and stimulation.

And of course, at every club he's ever been to, there's a group of girls who want in his pants because  
he is who he is. Notorious serial killer who suddenly changed his ways? They think they can be the  
person who he favours above every other living creature.

It's far too bad he's already found that person. He breathes, sleeps and lives that person. That person  
who he heavily insulted while they were at their weakest point.

He let's them have one glance of his while he consumes the next glass of unnamed glorious amber  
liquid. It soothes his flaming heart and lights his old instincts on fire. His smirk grows for no other  
reason than the thrum of heavy blood in his veins is a good anchor, keeping him rooted and aware.  
It could be that the woman behind the bar counter was warning those girls not to come any closer  
but one look from Harry and she's silenced. He screws his jaw tightly shut when they finally  
surround him. Scantily dressed and high heels is what he needs right now. _Not_ blue eyes and  
big clothing.

"Can I help any of you?" He passes them an unimpressed look, genuine from his heart because fake  
brunette does not float his boat.

There are three of them with - matching? - red shoes and varying degrees of 'short' dresses. One of  
them - the redhead with small blue eyes - just about manages to cover her arse. The rest are a bit  
more decent in that department.

"You can actually." The one with blonde hair and well taken care of skin steps up to his side, her  
overpowering fragrance making him cringe. "We've heard about you."

"Have you?" He doesn't try moving in the opposite direction. He's not intimidated by a damn thing.

"Your brother too." Came the redhead chiming in, disabling his liquor arm by stepping into its  
curve.

The reminder of Edward brings Louis with it and he can't handle that right now so he tightens his  
arm around the redhead and ignores the blonde. Competition got anyone great sex. Not with Louis  
though. Louis gave him something to want again, not just use as fuel for a dying flame.

He tried to drown out the images that were clouding his memory by sending his glass back and  
wrapping his arm properly around the redhead. She seems to like it but Harry's brain doesn't. He's  
haunted by Louis' face and Louis' touch and Louis' everything. It makes both his head spin and his  
pants tighten.

The girl on his arm took this as a salutation to her efforts but when she tried putting her hands on  
him, he pushed her away and her friends seemed thrilled with this.

"No! Fuck, get off me!" He shoves them all back when they practically try climbing on him. 

The girls are stunned and quite openly outraged that they didn't get a taste of Middleston's only  
living attraction - one half of it - and leave him there to return to the booth of friends they arrived  
with.

"Fucking Hell." He mutters to himself, pushing his way through people to get out back.

He takes out his phone and sees thirteen missed calls from Edward, and nobody else. Clearing his  
throat he slides down with his back against a wall and rubs his temple to ease the pressure build-up.

"You look like you need this." Some voice on the other side of a dumpster speaks to him.

Harry ignores them and the gesture of their hand sticking out, a cigarette between two fingers.

"Take it." The male encourages, finally tempting Harry to look up from his phone screen.

It's dark out and he can hardly make this person's face fixed but they're very light skinned with  
silvery hair. He snatches the cigarette and let's it be lit up by this stranger. Today has been a  
gruelling one and he hopes this will help settle his nerves. He hasn't smoked in five years and it  
feels like home again.

"Who are you?" Harry asks, taking a puff and blowing out an almost perfect ring of smoke.

"The ex-boyfriend of the girl you just kicked aside." The youngster replies, not at all perturbed by  
it.

Harry gets to his feet and manages to stand a head above this male, but he doesn't use intimidation  
on him. Bringing the cigarette to his lips, pinched between two fingers, he leans against the cold  
stone wall and blows out a long grey trail. The smoke in his lungs is sweet and sour and bitter and  
_perfect._

His phone starts buzzing again in his pocket and he fishes it out with the cigarette in his mouth,  
pulling his lips in as he reads the caller identification.

"What's wrong with answering it?" This new acquaintance of his questions, listening with him to  
the annoying ring tone.

Harry finds himself telling anyway. "He told someone that he loves them, while I love them too."

The teenager starts to snigger. "You'll have to share that one, mate."

Growling at his loose terminology regarding his petal, Harry also glares at this particular idiot.  
"Sorry." He raised his hands in defense, his baseball jacket wrinkling at the shoulders. "My bad."

The screen goes blank again and Harry sighs, disappointed in himself and the useless alcohol he  
took and this cigarette for not doing shit. He sets his head back against the wall and blows smoke up  
into the air, finishing his whole cigarette before mustering up the courage to call back.

He re-dials the number slowly and watches the screen fade out as the tone begins.

"Here!" The teenager stops him from walking down the alley to his Rover, tossing the pack of  
cigarettes into the air and Harry catches it. "Keep it."

Edward answers at the second ring and Harry just turned away from his gift giver. "Harry?"

"Yeah?" Harry says cautiously, getting his keys out and fumbling a bit as he inserts it into the  
driver's side lock.

"Where the Hell are you?" Edward is busy by the sounds of shuffling and rustling in the  
background.

He's safely in his seat by this point, sitting with the ignition off. "Just coming back. Why?"

"Louis was worried. I was worried. Are you okay?"

Harry tries not to let his breath hitch and heart stammer. "I'm a grown man, brother."

He wants to really say: _'Louis? Let me talk to him!'_

"Yes, I know." Edward sighs and Harry can hear a zip being closed. "Harry, can you come home in  
ten minutes?"

"Ten minutes? Why?"

"We're leaving." Edward explains, dropping something heavy on the ground. "You, petal and I.  
We're going on a spontaneous road trip."

"Road trip?" Harry shoves his key in the ignition and pulls out into the street.

"We'll explain- Actually, _Lou_ will explain."

Harry's about to protest and just cut the call because he can't bear to hear Louis' voice in his ear  
right now. He doesn't want to feel that trigger of self deprivation and constant reminder from the  
person he cared for. It's far too late though because Louis has taken Edward's phone and after  
napping for two hours, is rejuvenated enough to speak clearly.

It doesn't stop Edward from delaying the packing process by hovering over him like a big grizzly.

"Hi Harry." Louis says, sweet as the most sugary of treats and not sounding as near death as he was  
before Harry left.

Harry has never been stumped before. His throat goes dry, ash from cigarette smoke leaving the  
passage unsanitary. "H-Hey, petal."

Louis is smiling. He can _hear_ it and he holds the phone with both hands, closing his eyes to  
conjure up a mental visual. "Where are you, Harry?"

"A- um....I went out for a drink."

"Oh." Louis is silent for a fraction of a second. "Are you coming-"

"I am. I'm coming home, petal." He rushes to say _just in case._

"Good. I was scared when you left." Louis got softer, quieter at the last bit of his statement. "Are  
you angry with me?"

"No. _No, petal._" He wants to fling himself onto a street for creating that in Louis' head.  
"You- You're wonderful, baby. It's not your fault."

"Yay." Louis smiles into the receiver, hugging his bare knees. "I know you think I don't want you  
around or that I don't care. Harry, I'm sorry I did that if I did unintentionally."

"_Petal._ No, baby. I didn't-"

"I missed you too, Haz." Something was making Louis' voice less clear. "When I was....stuck in that  
part of myself I missed you so much even though you were right _there._"

He's gone from the phone for a time span that Harry dies a thousand deaths between the width of.  
He holds onto the steering wheel with such strength as if upsetting the cosmic balance by himself  
and the crying he can hear suddenly doesn't become Louis'.

Harry can't take it and he hangs up, hitting the heel of his palm into the dashboard and appreciating  
the pain. He rubs his eyes with more force than necessary.

He drives home like a maniac on steroids and hasn't been this pleased to see Styles manor in his  
twenty-six years. His haste doesn't allow for the shutting down of the engine as he races into the  
house that's centuries old, kicking sand and stone and he bolts upstairs.

Their bedroom has never been so far away and the hallway seems never ending but he pushes on,  
his shoes sliding against waxed wooden floor. He reaches the end of the passage and finds their  
door open, bags at the front.

Inside is where his treasure lies though.

He steps into the bedroom and there he is, sitting on the massive Egyptian bed with his legs crossed  
and Edward's phone in his hand. Louis doesn't notice him come in nor does he look up, and when  
Harry's brother walks out of the bathroom he stops him.

Edward respectfully stands in the doorway, although having his own score to settle with Harry he  
won't do it at the expense of Louis' happiness.

Harry kicks off his shoes first and makes his way towards Louis, his heart bursting each time it beat  
in a slow rhythm. He knelt down by the foot of the bed and gingerly, actually nervously, places his  
hands on Louis' wrists to pull his attention away from the phone's screen.

Louis' eyes went obscenely wide when he saw Harry, lunging at him and draping himself over the  
man as best he can. He thought Harry _hung up_ on him and wouldn't answer his phone  
anymore because of a reason he dreaded imagining. But he's here now, chuckling even though he's  
trying above all else to mask any sign of tears.

"You oaf." Louis muttered spitefully, pinching Harry's arm and falling back with him when Harry  
sat on the floor. "You hung up on me."

"I had to." Harry breathes in Louis' scent and discovers that he's freshly showered, the cigarette  
paling in comparison to this living drug. "I was going to come right here and apologise right to you,  
baby."

Louis looked him in the eye to determine whether or not this is the truth. It satisfies him and he  
smiles with watery eyes. "Don't ever leave again, okay?"

"Okay, petal." Harry accepts Louis' embrace, laughing wetly into the boy's shirt.

"_Ever._ You're not allowed to leave us."

"Yes, darlin'." It was a vow to Harry, much deeper in meaning than a regular promise. He was never  
going to down a road like this again if he could help it. "Why the road trip, petal?"

"Because I hate this house." Louis emphasised the third and last words, making Edward laugh  
breathily as he picked up two bags to take outside to the Rover.

"Do you?" Harry frowned, confused. Why would Louis- oh. "I'm sorry, baby. A road trip.....to get  
away?"

"Yeah." Louis sat up and wiped his eyes, his legs bracketing Harry's knees where he was perched.  
"Wanna go _away_."

"That's understandable." Harry reassures him, taking care of the loose strands of hair. "That's okay.  
"  
Harry took a moment to really _look_ at his petal and he finds that the results are very  
perplexing. Louis has rings under his eyes were the black bags were just started to go away, untidy  
hair that was slowly getting its life back. His skin was a little less pale but still needed some  
complexion besides the page white shade he had.

His eyes. Oh his _eyes._

They were nets of entrapment that could ensnare him any day. Harry watched them turn from  
glowing navy to relaxed crystalline blue. It was miraculous and outrageous all on the same token.

"I'm not ready to love you." He suddenly blurts out, wishing immediately after to claw his heart out.

Louis is mildly taken aback by this abrupt confession but he refrains from going further than a little  
squirm of his hips. "I know."

"You do?"

Shrugging, Louis gives him wry smile. "I do and it's okay."

Now, Harry feels an amount of his confusion inflating to something more misunderstood. Louis was  
okay with the rejection? So soon? Was Harry not good enough at this point?

"Hey, hey." Louis caught his attention and sustained it with a good measure of eye contact. "Don't  
even think about it. I'll never last another fight. It's not you in any way, I promise. It's us and we'll  
figure it out, okay?"

Harry can believe that and he gives Louis' forehead a sound kiss from his lips, smacking them on  
the boy's skin for extra effect. It works because it amuses Louis enough to giggle, sighing  
contentedly immediately after.

"If you leave again I'll hate you forever." Louis lightly adds, surprising a cackle out of Harry.  
He stops once he sees that Louis is not joking about this, his expression serious and voice levelled.

"Sorry, petal."

"Petals need their Daddies, you know."

Edward walked back in after Harry's third silent inhale, the time spent wasted as he held that air in  
his lungs. Louis sat on his lap and he wasn't entirely sure it wasn't a hoax yet because two weeks of  
trying to stay firm in a belief that was slowly being stripped to weakness is crippling.

"We can reach there by tomorrow night if we leave now." Edward snatches up his phone from the  
rumpled bedsheets and helps Louis stand now that he has nothing else to haul.

Harry is sad to see him go but Louis can stand without wobbling or falling over and that should be  
celebrated.

"Where is 'there'?" He asks no one in particular, but staring unashamedly at the way Louis' small  
hands looked microscopic where they were held by Edward's.

"Dynasville." Edward is the one to answer, supporting Louis around the middle because he's a  
paranoid man. "The state over on our left."

_Dynasville._ That would be a real road trip because it was nothing but pure road for miles  
and miles, occasionally a farm or garage. The mountains were beautiful going that way and they  
should be topped off with snowy peaks this time of year.

"That's a smaller town than ours." Harry remarks casually. "What about that place with the  
pumpkins?"

"Dynasville has pumpkins." Louis supplies, fingering one of Harry's shirt buttons.

Harry gives him a chaste peck on his and forehead takes the remainder of the bags without being  
asked to. Louis doesn't even have to move forward much to return his a kiss on the cheek.  
"And then there were two." Edward seizes Louis by his waist and brings him into the fold of his  
arms, smirking at the blush he finds on his petal's cheeks.

"Do you know anything about being a boyfriend?" Louis curled one of Edward's starched white  
locks of hair around his finger.

"Where did you get the idea we were boyfriends?"

Louis rolls his eyes, unamused. He leans into Edward's chest and feels the most protected any  
mortal ever could feel.

"I'll have to teach you, I suppose." Louis says, one octave below a whisper. 

"You may certainly try, petal although I can assure you-" He brings his face down to Louis'. "-I'm a  
much better Daddy than I am a boyfriend."

Louis breaks out into muted laughter that stunts his ability to recall anything traumatic as it crept up  
on him, threatening as slowly as the shoreline, to overtake him again. He looks up through his  
feminine lashes and fits himself against Edward.

"I don't find that hard to believe." Louis welcomes the man's lips against his own, warming up to  
the kiss quickly.

"Would you prefer a boyfriend?" Edward asked, mocking the entire issue as a whole. "Boyfriends  
don't fuck like me, petal. You'll be putting yourself at a disadvantage."

"Well now you have me convinced." Louis gives Edward's lips one peck and smiles when the sharp  
molars come into view. He missed them.

* * * * *

"What if the hospital calls?" Louis asks himself, chewing up his bottom lip vengefully.

He's sat in the back-seat of the Rover at a petrol station while Harry stood outside with the gas hub,  
but that's not enough distance from the center of town to ease his worries. The car door on his side  
was wide open, allowing for him to chat with Harry.

"My phone is off. Edward has his." Harry says about his brother who took pleasure in standing in a  
queue with other people to smile broadly when they looked his way.

"Yeah but....-" Louis' cheeks puff up as he exhales, studying the meter as the reading escalated.

"But?"

Harry came close enough to kiss Louis on the lips, smirking with his dimples solidifying when the  
boy is surprised but willing. Louis' four fingers fan out on one cheek, his thumb just under his chin  
as he tried to hold him back with a giggle.

His kisses were innocent this time and thrice repeated just to make sure. Being unwilling to lose  
Louis to whatever darkness overtook him before, both twins worked hard to make sure Louis was  
still with them at all times. Thus far they've been reassured each time by the steady and warm look  
of familiarity present in Louis' eyes.

"How are you feeling, petal?" The length of Harry's thumb ran down the curve of Louis' cheekbone,  
their faces close enough to impart his well-earned concern.

"A lot better." Louis admits, having already answered this for Edward. "It was the worst possible  
feeling to go through but now I'm.....better."

"I missed you, petal." Harry's clenching heart confesses. "More than I thought I ever could."

"I know." Louis put both hands on Harry's face and they were small enough to not run from hairline  
to chin. "Daddy, I know. I missed you too."

"I'll slaughter the whole fuckin' town before I let you leave us like that again."

It was not funny to an outside ear but Louis heard himself giggle and kissed Harry's red nose. "I  
don't know if you're serious."

"I'm always serious with you." Harry's hard stare taking apart Louis' softer, more recovery-prone  
one is getting cracked at the corners.

"Hey, Mr. Serious." Louis' smile curves upward to one side, bringing his face impossibly closer.  
"The petrol's leaking."

Harry turns his head and finds that indeed the petrol is dripping out of the nozzle all over the floor.  
He curses loudly and pulls away to remove it and cap it.

"Fuck." He describes the spillage on the floor, stepping over it to get back to Louis.

Louis, who is laughing to himself. It's bewildering how flawless a creature of Earth can be, Harry  
knows they found the answer to any and all mysteries with Louis. God is real because Louis can  
giggle like the finest music and smile like the sun.

"It's not that funny, petal." Harry scowls, albeit playfully.

"It was." Louis shrugs for him, downing his laughter. He pats Harry's jacket pocket before slipping  
his hands inside just for warmth. "You smoke?"

He unveiled a white cardboard pack of cigarettes, turning it over to read the label. Harry let's him  
look, thinking back to the teenager who gave it to him.

"I used to smoke, well before the Madhouse came into my life." The man tells him, watching  
intently from the start for Louis' reaction.

Louis winces at the mention of that plagued place. "So this pack is five years old?"  
"No." Harry barked a laugh. "I acquired it today."

"Okay." Louis puts them back and his hands stay buried in the lining of Harry's jacket pockets.  
"Where is Edward?"

Harry looks over his shoulder and between two petrol hubs at the garage store that's not very packed  
with people. He can see his brother at the trembling cashier's till, paying for a whole lot of junk.  
"Scaring people, as I see it." Harry laughs hoarsely. "It's an art. Isn't it, petal?"

"It could be." Louis plainly reasons, too tired to actually think about it. "I'm sleepy."

"Get in then." Harry gets the idea to make a decent bed in the back for their petal. "I'll tuck you in,  
baby."

"This car is not meant to be comfy." Louis complains when Harry slides into the seat with him.  
"Shh." Harry ends all his arguments. 

He remembers something and hops back out, using the car's sense of presence to open the boot.  
After grabbing the pillow and two blankets Edward had packed because he's a _McGyver_  
when it's time to haul ass, Harry closes it before returning to Louis.

Louis let's him set the pillow from their bed down and shifts around when one blanket is folded  
lengthwise in half, spread over the seat from door to door. It brings a bright smile to Louis' face,  
seeing this make-shift bed.

"Thank you." Louis hugs Harry and the latter male drops the second blanket to hold onto him.

"You're welcome, petal." He closes his eyes and basks in the comfort of Louis' tender embrace.

When Louis kicks off his shoes and lies back with his head on the known pillow, Harry covers him  
with the second blanket and tucks in all the loose corners so he stays insulated. He looks so  
_tiny_ with blankets enveloping him from all angles, just his face peeking out into the cold  
night air.

"Any complaints?" Harry asks with one hand braced on the back of the seat, his body generating  
more heat above Louis'.

"Cheeky." Louis mumbles, eyes already slipping shut. Mercurial Harry made him sleepy. "No  
complaints."

"Goodnight. Dream only of us, baby."

* * * * *

Louis wakes up to open windows in the front seats and the smell of coffee. He hates his travel  
companions for not waking him up. After a fitful rest that was void of any dreams - good or  
malevolent - he wants to gobble up breakfast and these are the people to not be classy with.  
Edward is driving and had a coffee cup brought to his lips, Harry being in the passenger seat with a  
cigarette out the window and the smoke rising from his lips. Louis admires the domesticity of their  
circumstances, certainly not brought about by anything cute or reputable.

"You're awake, petal?" Edward speaks a little louder than usual because the wind is blowing so  
strongly at the speed he drove.

Louis doesn't respond until _after_ he's taken the man's travel mug and had his dose of caffeine  
from it. "Disappointed?"

Edward laughs and turns his head for a millisecond just to kiss Louis' cheek, risking their lives for  
that affection. Louis turns a little pink from it. He sets his elbows on both seats, freeing his mind of  
a sleep-induced haze.

"Hey, petal." Harry greets after Louis puts his head on his seat.

"Hi." Louis replied, smiling at him with the exterior mirror. "I slept until morning?"

"Ten hours, yes." Edward answers him, just one hand on the steering wheel because of the calm  
road. "Are you still tired?"

"No." Louis takes the coffee with him when he crosses his legs on the seat, sitting back and closing  
his eyes briefly.

He blinks himself awake again and reads the time on the radio, feeling the recognisable thrill of  
coffee settling into his system. Around him the mountains were slowly passing while trees from  
random shrubbery and mini forests flew by.

Mountains in these regions are breathtaking. There were ranges with almost identical dusty brown  
sharp mounds, then the tallest and most dangerous with snow on their caps that stood above the  
clouds. Today that sky was cloudless save for the odd white pattern here and there, the sun shining  
down on everything beneath it.

The air was fresh and unpolluted out here. Wildlife roamed areas away from the road and he saw  
many grazing animals from farms on the hills. Middleston was far behind them and he felt relieved,  
which is not something most people would consider.

"Food, petal?" Edward asks as the Rover starts to slow down, his foot easing up on the gas pedal.

"Yes please." Louis didn't really think of the prospect of food but now that it's presented to him, his  
tummy grumbles.

A lime green sign on the side of the road alerts them of the presence of a diner further up an offroad path.  
Edward pulls into it smoothly _with one hand_ while the other picks at his lips and  
Louis admires his driving, feeling the skill become reason enough to kiss him unconscious.  
Louis kind of hates him all over again.

"Are we eating here?" He asks, pointedly at Harry.

"We will be." Harry takes Louis' hands, pulling them around his shoulders from the back. "We've  
come here before."

"You've driven to Dynasville before?" Louis feels the silky texture of Harry's new shirt. He notices  
that Edward also has fresh clothing.

"Thrice." Harry holds up three spaghetti fingers and Louis grabs one, holding it in his fist.  
"Niall and I usually eat at the lodge further on."

"Edward hates the lodge." Harry sighs, ditching his cigarette by putting it in the ash tray.

"Why?" Louis asks, turning towards the other brother. "It's lovely up there."

Edward sobers to reply, drinking coffee alternately from Harry's cup. "They stare for too long."

The dirt road ends at a caravan diner with a huge windmill right beside it. Louis opens his door after  
the central locking gives in and hops down onto the sandy ground shielding his eyes from the sun as  
he adjusts. Harry goes ahead to walk past the other gathering of motor vehicles and get a table.   
Edward is locking the Range Rover with the SUV's key and walks around the front to find Louis  
waiting. "How polite of you, petal."

"I-" Louis starts to say, his cheeks getting a lot redder from a blush on top of this heat. "-wanted to  
compliment you on your driving."

"My driving?" Edward quirks an eyebrow at him, leaning back against the car door with Louis  
naturally close to him.

"Yup." Louis is willing to have Edward's hands on his waist when he man bends down.

"Darlin', I've seen and heard many strange things but it seems you're teaching me something new  
everyday." Edward chuckles, bringing his mouth to seal over Louis'

Louis doesn't bother for replying and locks his arms around Edward's neck, taking in the kiss he's  
being given. He waits for the appropriate amount of time to pass before parting his lips. That  
imminently allows Edward to invade his mouth as well as hoist him up to wrap around his waist.  
Louis' back hits the car when they're flipped around and smiles when Edward's huge hands allow  
for a grope of his behind while licking the confines of Louis' mouth.

"You've made me a desperate man." Edward pulls away after he'd gotten to Louis' neck.

Breathless and definitely properly awake, Louis tightens his fingers in Edward's hair. "Good."

"Baby?" Edward calls Louis' attention back to him when the boy doesn't look him in the eye for a  
whole minute. "Lou!"

"What's wrong?" Louis gazes at the man between his legs in concern, brushing Edward's cheek  
when he sighs and kisses his wrist.

"What will happen to me if we lose you again, baby." Edward frames Louis' worried face and rests  
his forehead on the car door, relieved suddenly. "It's terrifying to think about."

"I'm sorry." Louis arches his back to make space for Edward's arms winding around him. "I'm so  
sorry. I love you."

Edward goes a little more mellow and nods to say it's okay. "My heart beats for you, petal. I love  
you."


	26. Chapter Twenty-Six

_In the middle of the night when the wolves come out, headed straight for your heart like a bullet  
in the dark._

***NARRATOR'S POV***

"They don't serve waffles." Louis says after a thorough inspection of the menu, twice over. "They  
really don't."

"I know." Harry amusedly replies, one of his legs folded on the seat with his arm over the back of  
Louis' seat beside him. "I still haven't gotten over it either, petal."

"Well why don't they serve waffles?" Louis does not find his question odd, but Edward finds it  
worthy of a laugh.

"It's not that grand of a deal, darlin'." He tells Louis, who rolls his eyes because it is as a matter of  
fact.

"Hi there." The waitress comes by with her lip-smacking gum and notepad when Harry puts his face  
in Louis' neck.

"Hi." Louis greets back, knowing that neither of the twins will. "Can we have waffles?"

Harry's laughing into Louis' shoulder, teeth biting the boy's shirt so his shoulders don't shake with  
the rhythm of it. Louis has a serious hopeful glint when he asks the kind waitress.

"Sure thing, sweetheart." She jots something down.

Louis all but announces the treachery when he's handing back all their menus despite only he  
having ordered. "Thank you."

When she's gone and the noise of the diner takes over again, Louis looks so confused by what just  
happened. Edward rips through tissues, three at a time and not stopping just so he has something to  
do with an object so fragile.

"So they serve waffles then?" Harry removes his chin from Louis' shoulder, pecking the boy's  
heated cheek before fully pulling away.

"Apparently." Louis fans himself with the place mat that was under his elbows. 

Edward pauses his shredding process and meets Louis' eye, winking from behind the thin white  
covering. Louis could have blushed but it's too hot to tell.

"You know-" Harry suddenly says to them both, lacing his fingers together on the table. "-  
Dynasville will be having their Halloween festival this time of year."

"Oh yes." Edward sits straight up against the back of his booth chair. "What do you think, petal?"

Louis sets the mat back down and looks away from the people having a late breakfast, each of them  
from different places and circumstances. Nobody knew the twins and not a single person stared at  
Edward like he was an abomination.

"I don't have a costume." He replies, salivating when he sees the waitress coming over with their  
order.

He could clap when he sees that she brought them milkshakes without them asking, and decides  
now that she's getting a big ol' tip from him. They've all gotten waffles and a small selection of  
dessert sauces that comes in a tray.

"Thank you." He tells to her after she's dictated the order and left.

"Petal, I don't remember wanting waffles and milkshake." Edward tells to him, frowning at the plate  
before him.

"It's banana." Louis shrugs, pouting around his shake's straw.

"Regardless." He lifts his hand and calls the waitress back, reciting an order of bacon sausage and  
scrambled eggs.

Harry is taking up over half of the sofa seat that he and Louis share, the latter piling his knee on top  
of Harry's just so he doesn't have to risk falling over the edge. Harry finds this amusing and  
sometimes his left hand will gravitate towards Louis' knee, massaging the cap of it as he ate.

"We should stay in a shabby motel." Louis says in contribution towards a conversation, swallowing  
after chewing.

Harry's fork and knife freeze. "Why?"

"It might be interesting." Louis pushes his plate away when he's done and sits with his warm hands  
wrapped around the glass of milkshake, condensation cooling down his hot skin.

"I'd rather live in the Rover, petal." Harry responds frostily, hating the idea of living in a run-down  
and disgusting establishment.

"Hear me out on this." He hardly notices the waitress when she comes to deliver Edward's new  
meal.

It's an appealing idea to him to stay in a motel, to escape the possibility of a luxurious life and just  
live hour-to-hour. They don't even have to leave the room if they're content with lying in bed and  
watching crap television because that's what he wants this trip to be about.

In his twenty or so years of living, this past month has been the one to destroy him. He wants to  
forget it temporarily until he's ready to face the issues that await him back in Middleston. For this  
trip, he wants to escape who he is - as deliberately irresponsible as it sounds - and be the calmest he  
can be.

"No, petal." Edward shuts him down before he's begun. "A motel may be cheap but it's filthy and I  
won't step foot in one."

Louis is stricken with the blow to his idea. "Harry?"

Harry shakes his head as well when Louis looks at him pleadingly. He really needs this.  
In a hotel the fees are high and everything is so quiet, so organised. He wants a motel where people  
just do what they got to do without caring for noise complaints or irrational arguments.

The screaming and barbarism. The leaking faucets and rusted pipes. The holes in the walls and  
peeping Toms. The lovers from different backgrounds, forbidden for different reasons. Maybe it's a  
sick plot but it's Louis' idea and he will have it. There's _life_ in a motel filled with diverse  
people and that's what Louis wants for himself to experience.

"Fine then can you leave me at one?" Louis changes his idea to suit himself only because he's not  
sacrificing that plan.

"No." Edward shovels a bit of egg into his mouth, chewing with his mouth set in an unamused line.

"Are you still hungry?"

"No." Louis mimics him being stubborn, which does amuse Edward enough smirk while he eats.

"Are you going to take this far enough to be angry with us, petal?" Edward asks when Harry's  
finished with his plate of waffles and he's close to done with his.

"Yes." Louis doesn't look at him, feeling authentically bitten - no pun intended - in the arse about  
this.

"Would you like me to turn us around?"

Louis' eyes narrow and the emotion of frustration that they carry ends up focused on Edward. "I  
won't have a point for this trip so I don't care."

"Petal." Harry starts to say. "We'll find the cheapest hotel."

"It's _Dynasville_, Harry." Louis sighs in exasperation. "There _are_ no cheap hotels."

Well there was no argument for that. Dynasville was during peak season now because of their  
festivals always being a real blast so nothing was cheap nor would it decrease for the next three  
months.

"We're leaving. Get up." Edward slides to the edge of his seat and stands up all in one breathless  
move.

Louis hugs his glass tumbler of banana ice cream milkshake and resists moving even when Harry  
comes up to be pressed against his side. "I'm not done."

"You are." Edward removes the cup from both Louis' hands, his strength dominating the boy's.

"Stand up, petal. If I have to ask again it won't be with words."

Now people _were_ looking at them because even if Edward was speaking lowly it was purely  
disgruntled and small townsfolk enjoyed battles like these. They'd be getting a show while they ate  
their food.

Harry rubbed Louis' hip comfortingly and whispered in his ear. "Come on, darlin'."

Louis feels outright disappointed and does not wish to continue this trip any longer. He'll trudge  
back to Middleston and put his work face on - yet another thing he left behind - and start his life  
again after this tiny hiccup. Why did he even think they'd listen?

He's ready to stand up on his own but Edward is far too impatient to see it through the curtain of  
irritation bubbling under his pupils. Bending down he ceases Louis by the waist and hauls him to  
his feet with force. When the boy's hip threatens to have a painful impact with the table's corner,  
Edward places his hand over so he embraces the collision with no more than grimace.

"Edward!" Louis crows when he's upside-down hanging off the man's broad left shoulder. "Put me  
down!"

The diner's caravan is too small and short to handle Edward carrying a person, especially not with  
tables and booths scattered all around. Harry sighs and gets to standing too after laying down the  
cash to cover their bill, enough for a decent tip as well.

"Shh, darlin'." He tells Louis when he follows Edward out, forced to tolerate Louis' lethal glare.

"Edward-" Louis whines in discomfort and squirms in the hopes that he'll be put down. "-please let  
me go."

"I'm not going to put up with you behaving like a petulant adolescent _so_-" He all of a sudden  
drops Louis onto the ground, landing him on his feet and barricading him against the Rover's back  
door. His eyes pin Louis' with how feral and no-nonsense they appear to be. "-you will get inside  
the damn car and utter another word about a motel. Am I clear?"

Louis doesn't feel anything more than rage rapidly developing emotional walls and his scorching  
eyes turn from sapphire to pure fire as he gulps down that feeling of helplessness. Edward always  
made him feel that way and most times it was comforting, appealing even. Right now it made Louis  
want to physically push him away and _walk_ back to Middleston.

_"Am I clear, petal?"_ He asks Louis again, earning his clarification as he tightens his hold on  
the boy's thigh painfully.

Louis doesn't think he can answer without either breaking into a sob or succumbing to a violent  
urge, so he sniffs and turns around to yank the door open. Edward has to back away to keep from  
being hit with the heavy steel contraption but deftly side-steps it to grab Louis by his ankles.

"Edward don't." Harry discourages, placing his hand on his brother's shoulder to stop him. "He's  
angry now. Just leave him alone."

Due to the small warning, when Louis wiggles free Edward let's him go. The door slams shut which  
is surprising for it had come from a body structured as Louis.

"He's going to ignore me now." Edward doesn't turn around and stares at the glossy reflection of  
Harry standing behind him, a little to the side.

"I know." Is all Harry says in reply, squeezing his hand briefly and pressing a supportive kiss on that  
shoulder. "Only for a little while though."

Driving to Dynasville becomes as cold as revenge is now. Edward stays silent at the wheel with  
both hands on it while occasionally glancing at the rear-view mirror to see Louis staring at out his  
window. The boy is folded up on the seat with headphones for Harry's iPod on, the music being a  
tad ridiculous but silence becomes insufferable after a period of time passes.

Harry doesn't say much other than to ask whether he can switch on the radio. The service out here  
was pathetic and he eventually had to turn it off after failing to find a decent network. The trees  
flew by and their trunks formed a brown sheet with the frequent black sliver as they sped past.  
Louis sat in the form of a ball holding onto Harry's white iPod in its case and listened to the music  
switch from reggae to ballads to rock 'n roll. He leaned his head against the glass window and when  
the windows rolled open, pulled one of the two blankets from his mobile bed around him.

He couldn't bring himself to feel bad about the incident at the diner, although they would have been  
able to do without it. Edward was angry at him and he was mad at Edward, nobody would ever  
budge on that argument. Maybe he should, Louis thinks. This road trip hasn't been recalled and  
they're still coming with him to a county way out of town.

He could be stuck in Middleston now, inside his body with no chance of escape if it weren't for  
some effort on their part. Louis sighs to himself and looks at his lap, agreeing with the part of him  
that says he must apologise to his infuriating newest boyfriend.

The sun was beginning to set when he finally plucked up the courage to act on his bravery.  
Everyone has been silent for two whole hours now and Louis has run out of snacks to feed himself.  
He'll probably lose what silhouette he has now to marshmallow robots and gummy worms.

Edward sees him shuffle but doesn't expect to have Louis' head on his shoulder a moment later. The  
boy fits his face over the seat and the headrest, invading the driver's seat section a little nervously.

"Hi." He first speaks, watching Edward lean back closer to him and loosen his grip on the steering  
wheel.

"Hello, petal." Edward doesn't sound like he's smirking or even less tense than before in the  
slightest.

"I'm sorry." Louis moves his arms from his legs to wrap around Edward's shoulders and the seat. "I  
was being melodramatic and I'm sorry."

It takes a short while for Edward to process this because he doesn't get sincere apologies many  
times, so this is not expected. He does reach up to his clavicle and holds onto where Louis has his  
hands locked around him, feeling comforted by his petal being so considerate.

"It may not have been appreciated then but this makes me feel better." Edward angles his head for a  
quick breather from the road, pecking Louis' cheek. "Your inability to do as you're told seems to  
make me love love you all the more."

Feeling smug from this, Louis returns the kiss but doesn't move away when he's smiling into  
Edward's neck. He presses his lips to the corner of the man's mouth and gets to feel a dimple. A  
camera's flash goes off to the side and Louis scowls at Harry, the culprit.

"Harry!" He hears Edward's chuckle in his ear, watching Harry lock his phone.

"Oh please, petal." Harry throws his cigarette out the door, only halfway through. "Did you expect  
me to lose a moment like that?"

"It won't be forgotten." Louis pouts, a little bit of his moist inner lip sticking out.

Leaning over the leather arm rest, Harry kisses him and swaps the taste of banana with sugary  
treats. He stays there long enough for two more kisses to be shared. Louis nips his lip and Harry  
pokes at his grip with his tongue, getting him to let go.

"I ran out of candy." Louis informs them both.

Harry laughs as he shakes his head, kicking off one shoe to bring one leg up onto the seat bent in  
the air. "You shouldn't be eating so much candy for the sake of your teeth, petal."

Edward is drumming his fingers on the back of Louis' hand, still just under his chin. "We'll stop for  
something that doesn't have so much reason for high cholesterol, okay?"

"Deal." Louis rests his cheek on the seat, watching the night get darker and Edward switch on the  
headlights.

The road seems to be never ending from this point of view, the twinkling of lights in the distance  
signalling some kind of civilisation ahead. For now though, they're stuck between an open field and  
towering trees to their left. Louis flips on the light inside and illuminates the car's innards.

"We need to fill gas." Edward says after looking at the red light flickering on the dash.

"I think there's a gas station up there." Harry points at something not too far away, a giant shelter  
over ten petrol hubs and a small structure for edible purchases.

"It looks new." Louis comments when Edward pulls onto the path that will lead them up there. "It's  
so busy."

There were queues for _petrol_. Cars sat in lines for the ten sections, no less than three in each  
one. The station itself had permanently open electronic doors with people filing in and out every  
five seconds. The lights were bright and one would never remember that it's nearing a night hour.  
"Do you need us to be here while you wait?" Louis asks the driver with obviously tired eyes as he  
rubbed them continuously.

Edward pulls into the second queue and sits back with a sigh, his head leaning back and shakes his  
head. "You and Harry go get those snacks you want."

"Okay." Louis withdraws and slips his shoes back on, unlocking the door before hopping out. He  
stops at the driver's window when the back of his shoe doesn't cooperate. "Do you want anything?"

Harry has made his way out and stretched for no other reason than his back is a menace. He puts his  
hand on Louis' lower back to steady him before he falls over.

"Something to keep me awake." Edward replies, checking the time on Harry's phone that his brother  
left behind.

"We have to stop somewhere." Louis says, zipping up his jacket and taking Harry's hand away from  
his back to hold onto it. "You can't keep driving."

"He's right." Harry interrupts before Edward can mutter a word of protest. "It's at least eight or ten  
hours more."

"Or I could drive?" Louis suggests, pulling up the sleeves on his hoodie.

"No." Edward is quick to say. "Because if I'm sleeping, petal, you're sleeping with me."

The car ahead of Edward gets to move one up and he nods to them before pulling forward too. They  
decide to pick up the conversation again later, when _the cold_ isn't making Louis' cheeks  
redden. It's the temperature, he swears.

Harry leads Louis towards the station house, slipping in behind a family of three. Louis is glad to be  
out of the cold but the stupid garage is freezing. Air-conditioners keep everything at a chilly  
temperature and he tucks himself in under Harry's arm to stay warm.

They spread out though to cover more ground between the shelves and Harry gets to hold  
everything the pick out.

"Cashews?" Harry picks up a packet of salted cashews.

"I like cashews." Louis tosses a small Padkos packet of nuts and raisins, which Harry effortlessly  
catches.

Louis bumps into people and excuses himself more times than he'd care to. Harry does the same but  
he doesn't apologise so Louis assumes he's doing it for them both. He gets to the cold drinks section  
and finds energy drinks in a vast abundance here. Harry grabs a red version of Monster that has the  
word 'Assault' stamped at the bottom and Louis disapproves.

"That is _awful_, Harry." Louis tells him, putting a bottle of water and a Red Bull in his own  
two hands. He's envious of Harry's large hands.

"It is." Harry agrees but makes no move to put it back, cackling when Louis huffs and keeps on  
walking.

People continue to enter and leave, making enough of dreadful noise that Louis has to gesture for  
Harry to bend everytime he wants to say something. He always got a small kiss on the neck though  
and that's.....well, _perfect._

"We haven't had lunch or dinner." Louis says when they're passing the bakery, his pace slowing  
down immensely and leading to Harry almost hitting his back.

"Edward hates pies. I hate pies." Harry says in a matter-of-fact manner.

Louis raises his eyebrow for all of ten seconds before asking the woman behind the heated racks to  
give him a burger pie. Now it's Harry's turn to huff and go stand in the line to pay.

"You are extraordinarily ridiculous, petal." Harry tells him when Louis returns to his side with a  
branded grease-proof packet.

Tipping his head back, Louis accepts when Harry gives him a kiss that has them fitted together like  
one embodiment. "I'm yours."

"And I, petal,-" What cuts Harry off is a shrill and high-pitched scream from somewhere outside the  
garage station.

Even though they both from the only establishment in the world where screaming is as common as  
birds chirping in the early morning hours, both their heads snap towards the sound. There's not  
much commotion outside so there can't be a problem big enough render such a horrific noise but  
Louis can see between two teenagers that are walking towards the garage's doors what makes even  
them turn around.

He worries for Edward but under a whole different set of reasons. Outside a woman who is  
supposed to serving someone as an assistant, instead shrieked and jumped away.

"Shit." Louis dumps everything in Harry's hands and bolts out the doors as soon as he can squeeze  
through.

The sprint towards the hub where Edward stood took years in Louis' mind and he forced himself to  
run there despite any ache in his muscles. The tar beats on his feet with each fast-paced step he  
takes.

When he comes to a halt, he has push through a gathering crowd to get in the circle. Edward didn't  
seem to care much for this attention but the woman who had seen his teeth when he spoke refused  
to do more than step a few inches back.

"Lou." He looks relieved at the sight of Louis, eyes scanning everyone else just once like his mind  
was documenting each presence. "Tell the woman to do her job and give me the God damn card."

Louis is relaxed knowing that it was no fault of Edward's that this crowd was building, so he took a  
step towards him but someone held him back. Edward's eyes darted to the stranger and Louis was  
released, the individual who pitied for some unexplained reason regretting their purpose.

"You're just a show-stopper, aren't you?" Louis approaches the female with the card to access the  
hub and swipes it out of her hand. "Did you have to smile?"

People were moving away because nothing fanatical and worth filming was taking place, just Louis  
holding the Rover's keys and smiling when Harry waved from the fresh stop store.

Edward plugs the gas feeder into the Rover's petrol tank and waits. "I didn't smile. The bitch tried  
flirting with me."

Louis turns his head to look at her shaking in her boots, and giggled. "Eh. She tried."

* * * * *

"We are _not_ staying in a fuckin' motel, petal." Edward curses as he argues for the thirtieth  
time with Louis.

They're back to that again, as was inevitable.

It's a little after six in the afternoon and Edward needs to stop driving before he falls asleep at the  
wheel, so they have a choice between a trailer park and motel with a flickering neon light. They'll  
pick up their trip again in the morning after everyone's gotten some rest.

"I will jump out of the car, Edward." Louis sounds deadly serious when he threatens this, proving  
once more that the Monster energy drink Harry let him half half off was a bad idea.

Harry reaches across the console and clicks the central locking button for child lock.

Louis groans. "That's not fair! We can't sleep in a trailer park."

"We won't." Edward replies and this time even Harry looks at him a little in disbelief.

"Edward, you can't drive for that long." Harry says, bordering on angry himself.

"Fucking fine then!" He starts to slow down to contradict his high speed when reaching the motel's  
misspelt name tower.

He's really angry when he has to park outside the motel's filthy office and watch Louis jump off  
after him to get a room. Louis knows this is the right thing to do irrespective of Edward's ego.  
"I don't care how angry you are at me." Louis casually states, opening the flimsy gate with the  
salted cashew nut packet so he doesn't have to touch it. "You can go on brooding in your sleep  
because you need it."

Edward gives Louis a look of indignation but it slowly passes when he becomes amused by his  
lively little boyfriend - the term freaks him out in the best and worst ways. The manager is a dead  
beat teenager who Louis calls Norman Bates just because he's convinced he is.

"He was too calm." Louis explains his reasoning to Harry later in the car when they're driving to the  
block with their room. "Twitchy too though. He's easily scared and he seemed intimidated."

"Can't imagine why, petal." Harry says with a crooked smile.

"And-" Louis continues when they're taking one bag each just for essentials up the stairs. "-he smelt  
decent which is odd enough, isn't it?"

"I felt like that was a stereotype." Harry's eyebrows come together in a frown.

"It wasn't." Louis walks in ahead of him after Edward. "Men with murderous tendencies are twitchy  
but they rarely look presentable because of their erratic behaviour."

"Oh?" Edward dumps the bags on the second bed and teases Louis on his way to the bathroom.  
"What about us?"

"Well-" Louis chews his thumb as he thinks. "-you're calculated and precise enough to be careful.  
Harry has it in his blood and usually, instinct doesn't mean neatness."

Harry only smiles at Louis with his dimples popping and shakes his head enough to shift the shape  
of his hair when he stands up. "Wash up?"

"Okay."

Their room is decent and Louis loves that it is. There are two double beds and a bathroom with a  
leaky faucet that he pretends not to hear. The carpet is a bit sticky at some parts and the bedsheets  
are dusty but Louis does not complain.

Edward falls asleep as soon as he's on the bed and Louis covers him with the other half of the duvet.  
Harry grabs and balls up the accompanying bed's sheets for them to use.

"You've smoked six cigarettes since we left Middleston." Louis sat on Harry's hard abdomen, back  
against the man's knees while his feet were planted on the mattress on either side of Harry's  
shoulders. "Is something wrong?"

"I just remembered that I enjoyed the habit." Harry blew out grey smoke from between his lips.  
"Petal, I want to talk to you about something."

"Okay." Louis flattens his palms on Harry's sparrow tattoo, the birds' tails still peeking out.

"Outside. Put on some pants."

So they find themselves just outside their room leaning against the balcony railing and staring at the  
open parking lot. Cars were scarce on these roads but this motel had a relatively good number of  
guests anyway.

"What's wrong?" Louis leans his back against the railing when Harry starts to pace, worriedly  
following him with his eyes.

Harry's not got a shirt on but he seems marginally unaffected by the cold, while still he blows of  
white wisps of air when he exhales. "Do you think I'm afraid of anything, Lou?"

"Yes." He replies, crossing his arms for warmth. "Everyone is afraid of something."

"What do you think my fear is?" Harry seems to be asking this question so that it leads to something  
more, possibly an explanation.

"Um-" Louis stops when one of the other tenants comes up the stairs, walking heavily and drunk.

The man is in a formal suit and acknowledges them only for a few seconds before he goes into his  
own room down the passage. Harry looked like he didn't even see him, something troubling keeping  
his frown on his face as he moved closer to Louis. His arms shot out on Louis' two sides, boxing  
him in with a steel grip on the railing.'

"Your answer?" Harry's seriousness is compelling Louis to answer him because there's  
_something_ in those eyes of his.

"I don't know, Harry." He breathes, his voice barely making his words comprehensible.

"You." Harry presses rocks forward and Louis gasps, the railing behind him digging into his back.  
"I'm _terrified_ of what you can do to me."

"Harry-" Louis can't get the words out, desperately trying to match subliminal messages to actual  
fact. "-I'm not understanding."

"I don't fucking understand either. I just-" Harry pulls on his hair and backs away like Louis burnt  
him. "I want it _stop_, Lou. Make it stop!"

"Okay, okay. Harry? Look at me." Louis makes sure there's nobody else in the passage with them,  
holding onto the man's shoulders to get him to be still. "What does it feel like, Harry? Talk to me."

He wasn't their therapist any longer but he's advanced to a position in their lives that held so much  
more responsibility and trust. Harry takes Louis' hands and tosses them over his shoulders so they're  
fallen onto his shoulderblades. It's clumsy the way he digs his fingers into Louis' behind and hikes  
him up around his waist.

Louis hisses when his lower back hits the balcony guards again, looking over the edge and praying  
Harry doesn't let him fall. The hurricane of emotions he sees and gets lost in when looking at Harry  
is enough to silence anybody.

"It feels like I know what you're thinking." Harry's gravely whisper makes Louis whisper. "I'd never  
drop you."

It's uncanny enough to make Louis stare unblinkingly at Harry, mouth open where he breathes in  
and out slowly. It sure felt like Harry could reach into his mind and pull out the thoughts, the  
expressive feelings and locked secrets. As scary as it was to be an open book to Harry, Louis also  
knew without thinking it that he'd not feel pain whenever Harry did the deed of picking at his brain.

"How can you.....-"

"That's just it, petal. I don't know how or why." Harry was imploring, begging for an answer to no  
longer feel so frayed at the corners of his mind.

"Well I-.....I- Harry, I don't know what to tell you." Louis is made to sit on the cold metal bar.  
"Harry, stop. I'm going to _fall_-"

"Shh. Just-" Harry catches the side of Louis' face, straining the muscles in his neck when he  
_makes_ Louis look up at him. "Just let me.....-"

Louis' head is tossed back and his jaw aches from how the angle becomes less and less comfortable.  
He has to gulp down air to keep his blood pressure from dropping and knows he _must_ be  
hurting Harry with how unrelenting his grip is.

Harry starts with closing his eyes with the eyelids squeezed enough with the internal trainwreck he's  
experiencing, that they only lighten up when he's pressing his face to Louis' pale neck. He's   
breathing heavily and his mouth opens to press wet lips against Louis' skin. He looks ravenous in  
the way he gropes and feeds on the aura around his petal.

"You make me feel calm when there's nothing to be calm about." Harry moves his praising mouth to  
Louis' ear. "You make me feel like a riot when everyone is asleep."

Louis can just about make out what he's saying above the heavy beat of blood pounding through his  
body. He gets to right himself and clings to Harry until he's brought back over the ledge and safely  
pressed up against their room door.

"Your body." He fans his fingers like nets over Louis' waist and pushes him up higher, needing to  
raise his head in order to look at him. Louis gets to slowly slide back down, pressed to him and their  
eyes never disconnecting. "When I touch it, _fuck_ when I'm inside you. It's all mine for that  
time and it makes me feel like you have complete control over me."

Not knowing what to say or even think, his brain abandoning him so he can stare and hope words  
come to him, Louis cups Harry's jaw with his hand and sees him close his eyes. Harry  
_shivers_ at Louis' willing contact and the boy is lost.

"At the Madhouse, when you first came to see us, I thought you were going to let us do what we  
wanted. You made us fucking _work_ for it and you still do." Harry's throwing so many things  
at Louis that the latter doesn't know what to process first. "I want to spend my life working for it."  
Louis' grasp on his own voice surfaces and he knows he can't let Harry continue. This conversation  
is beginning to overwhelm him and that's not what this trip is supposed to be about.

"Harry, you have to stop." He tries.

"No, petal. I-"

"No, Harry!" Louis whispers his resistance, fighting to get Harry's hold off him. "Harry, let go of  
me."

Harry suddenly releases him like he's been cut and Louis scrambles to get away from him, needing  
the fresh air and the space. He had fallen to the ground when Harry dropped him and his ankle gave  
way, harshly breathing as he stared at the man.

"Don't." Louis snaps when Harry steps forward and kneels.

"Please, petal. I'm so-"

Louis doesn't want to hear it. He gets on his feet and runs before Harry can continue, the pained  
voice of a man so lost following him. He's unaware how diligently he's wiping tears from his cheeks  
and keeping up his speed until he's gotten to the bottom stair and someone is following him.

"Louis!" Harry calls out to him in the dead of night, croaking when his heart gets in the way.

"Leave me alone, Harry!" Louis pushes on, making it across the parking lot but the splash of water  
puddles haunt him. 

Harry races after him as Louis keeps going, not knowing exactly where he's running to but knowing  
that he can't stop. Louis slows down to a jog when he's around the corner of the motel's first  
building and can't see Harry.

"Someone following you?" A voice frightens him and makes him jump, just missing the wet grass.  
It's the teenage manager leaning against the wall looking pale as a ghost against it. What's he doing  
out here?

"No." Louis steps back when this fellow comes out from the shadows.

"You're creating a ruckus in my parking lot." The teenager wiped the tip of his nose with his finger.  
"Stop doing that."

"U-Uh okay." Louis says distractedly, the soundtrack of shoes on tar getting closer making him  
panic.

He realised that he shouldn't be running from Harry the way he is. The man was completely honest  
and still chased after him post rejection. Louis leaves the creepy teenager alone again to walk on the  
wet stone ground, wrapping his arms around himself.

As he walks he deliberates, thinking about whether what he did was a good thing. Harry opened up  
to him and he ran away from the sweet words, promises and all the things it was hard for the man to  
say. Louis noticed Harry hanging back by the staircase where Louis descended, sitting on the  
second last one with his head in his hands.

That's not what got Louis to walk faster and eventually start running again. It was that Harry's body  
was shaking like he could _crying_ and it distorted Louis' heart.

"Harry!" He witnesses no reaction from the man who was tugging on his hair as he blew cold air  
into the night.

Louis moved around an unreasonably large water puddle - a result of the rain from the night before  
probably. There's an ocean drowning him in the probabilities and mathematical possibilities that  
could come his way once he's in front of Harry.

Harry is two feet away and he knows Louis is there but can't bring himself to look up, just turns to  
the side momentarily before letting his neck hang at an awkward angle.

"I'm crazy, Louis, but I'm still human." Harry stares with empty eyes at Louis' shoes that have  
turned ratty and aged in one night.

It feels to Louis like Harry's lodges chainsaw in the same cavity as his vital organs. They all cough  
up their contents, a tightening in his throat to keep the pain enclosed.

Harry stands up and for once isn't trying to protect or intimidate Louis with his height. He has tear  
tracks running down his face, wetting his skin as they went further down like he didn't bother to  
stop them.

"I feel for any man who gets his heart broken by you." Says he, his humiliation, desire and  
heartbreak all rolled into one then divided to suit both eyes.

Louis' eyes are burning but not releasing any tears themselves, refusing to show weakness when  
he's supposed to be strong. Nobody sees Edward standing at the balcony, all of his physique  
blocked by the midnight's mistress shadows.

When he decides that Harry's name and torn face has to stop racing through him; in his blood and in  
the air he breathes, Louis speaks. "I ran, Harry, because you were scaring me."

"_Scaring_ you?!" As his thunderous voice booms to a close, the pitter-patter as the tell-tale  
sign of rain hits them both.

Two deep breaths later and a whole sheet of rain comes crashing down on them. Harry makes no  
move forward or backward, staring at Louis with eyes so passionate they might out-do any poet's  
ballad. He has his hands fisted at his sides.

Louis opens his mouth and tastes the rain water seeping in, swallowing to quench nothing. "You  
said-...You said you weren't ready to love me!"

The structure of Harry's jaw moves under his skin like naked art on crystal waters. Raw temptation.  
"I'll never tell you I love you, Louis!"

And Louis waits because Harry's mouth is still open meaning he has more to say for himself.  
Edward made a move to get down there when the rain started but withheld that protectiveness.  
Harry had to do this for himself and once he begins, Louis' heart convulses.

"I'll never say it-" Harry licks his lips, eyes black as coal. "-but I'll tuck you in at night and hold you  
while you sleep! I'll kiss you when you want me to and even when you don't. I will kill man,  
woman or animal for you and I will give up every ounce of dignity I have to fall at your feet."

With the end of each sentence, to emphasise the traditional meaning behind every single one Harry  
would take a proud step forward until finally he was preventing any rain from landing on his petal's  
face. His hair fell as a black curtain on the sides of their faces, dripping the icy water all over them.

"I will never say I love you, petal-" Harry framed Louis' cheek with his palm. "-but everything I do  
in your name will mean much more than that."


	27. Chapter Twenty-Seven

***NARRATOR'S POV***

"Are you sure, duckling?" Liam asks Niall for the twelfth time since they've exited the elevator.

Niall has decided to give it a shot but not exactly chance anything this early. He told Liam of his  
plan to agree to a date only after Zayn is discharged and Liam has to come as well.

"Yes but if you ask me again you aren't allowed to come on the date." Niall replies, passing the  
nurses and headed to Zayn's room.

Liam ignores that last part and worriedly follows Niall to Zayn's patient room, thinking if maybe he  
pushed too far this time. "Duckling, you really don't have to."

"Maybe I'm doing this for me, Liam." Niall counts the doors from the third hallway.

"Okay fine." Liam stands outside because he's too terrified about this going all wrong to go in. His  
Duckling is so darn brave.

"Hey, Zayn." Niall enters the through the open doorway and passes up the opportunity to sit on a  
chair.

Zayn looks taken aback by Niall's sudden act of appearance, but smothers that surprise with a  
crooked little smile. Niall hates him for it because his cheekbones are from Hell where a demon  
carved them perfectly himself. Brown eyes, darker than Liam's and a little less friendly, watched  
Niall.

"Hello, ducky." Zayn invites Niall to sit on a portion of his bed. "To what do I owe this pleasure?"

"I want to give you a chance." Niall swallows and bends one knee - the fully able one - as he sits.  
His last word sounds like 'chonce' but it's out there now.

"Do you really? What changed your mind?"

"I hated you." Niall scowls powerfully. "Now I hate you a little less."

"I'll take it." Zayn blows out with puffed up cheeks. "I get discharged tomorrow. What do you and  
the man outside say to a fancy date?"

* * * * *  
**"I will never say I love you, petal-" Harry framed Louis' cheek with his palm. "-but everything I  
do in your name will mean much more than that."**

Louis stared into the black stones that had replaced Harry's eyes. He felt like he was drowning and  
that water, the _rain_, was destroying the calcium in his bones and turning them to dry ice. The  
thunder was nearby but neither of them could hear it, adhere to precaution. They stood beside a  
metal staircase under the worst circumstances, facing each other in a fix or conflict situation.  
It's not Louis' choice anymore and he's come to terms with that. He's offended Harry too many  
times for him to be the one who deserves to choose. Harry could walk out of what they have and  
Louis would let him go because he deserves some freedom from the misery Louis brings him.  
"I want you to choose me." Louis' lips move in accordance to his heart now, no longer his brain.  
Harry rested his forehead on Louis' and completely shielded him from the rain except for the rain  
pelting against his back. Louis inhaled the air with a sharp breath and tilted his head to the side,  
upwards, anything to get their noses to brush.

"Petal?" Harry moves his hand to the back of Louis' head, pulling him so much closer like he  
survives on the breath Louis exhales.

Blue met black and there's a new story to be told. "I don't deserve you, not after what you just said  
to me."

He sees Harry open his mouth to say whatever will put him back beneath Louis but that's not where  
he belongs. Louis puts a hand over the man's mouth and waits for him to stop, borderline emotions  
making tears cross over the red rims of his eyes. His lips quivered and his fingers shook, steadied  
only when Harry held onto them.

The rain beat down on Louis painfully, hitting his skin and clothes like a gruelling punishment from  
the being above the clouds. He deserves it all and he hates himself for not knowing what to say.  
Near to releasing a sob, Louis heaves a deep breath and looks earnestly into Harry's pits where  
black turned green.

"You're a captivating man, Harry. Inside you might be a little frightening but you're scared yourself  
too and that's the most beautiful thing I've ever seen." Louis looped his fingers through the soggy  
loops of Harry's pants and it had to be peeled off the clothing with a wet slap before he could. "I  
want you to choose me. I need you to forgive me because _I'm sorry_, Harry. I'm a deplorable  
person for rejecting you but you deserve better and you can say no to me now. You can push me  
away because you're worthy of someone who will love as passionately as you."

Heavily breathing and on the verge of breaking down to the ruins of history's record books, Louis  
let's himself fall with the weight of his worry. His head is bowed when he feels Harry take his  
hands, but not wrapping them up the way he should. Louis' head snaps up with water droplets  
landing in his eye but that's not the worst thing that is happening.

He may have said that it's okay to say no but he finds himself filling with dread when Harry  
removes his hands from his shirt. The man's facial expression is unreadable as Louis implores that  
he think this through. His hands are _dropped_ and Harry stops touching him everywhere that  
he was.

"Harry?" Louis goes to touch him again, fighting the possibility that this is _happening_ to  
him.

But Harry is serious because he turns away from Louis to leave him there, wheezing and stuck in  
the rain. He can't _breathe_ without an awful noise too much like a sob leaking out with it.   
Louis' palms still feel the fabric of Harry's soaking clothing under his fingertips and it made his  
heart mourn.

"Harry!" He calls out to the dead night when Harry's almost to the top of the staircase.

Louis stops himself from following after the other male. He knows Harry did a good thing for  
himself because Louis could never love him the way he deserved after a life like his. Nobody else  
could get as close as Louis did either and it _hurts_ to think Harry might settle for dying alone.  
Harry was a bout of hurt and agony when he reached the top of the staircase that rattled with every  
step of his. Gravity pulled him back and it was harder with each effort but he kept it up because he's  
not doing this for nothing.

What he never expected is to find Edward still standing there after having seen the whole ugly  
thing. His arms from his elbow to his wrist were wet as they jutted out under the rain.

"You s-saw?" Harry took a cautious step forward, shivering in his current soiled state.  
Edward glanced at him out of the corner of his eye, hanging his head low. "Yes."

"I-I'm sorry." Harry rubbed his arms for body warmth rejuvenation futilely, cold hands on even  
colder arms.

Shaking his head, Edward pushes off the railing and pulls his brother in for an embrace. How could  
he not? Harry was still shaking after that but this time from crying, the wetness of his tears meeting  
Edward's dry shirt. His older brother comforts him all that he can with rubbing his back and kissing  
his temple.

"What do you want me to do?" Edward asks softly, naturally his eyes begin to gravitate towards  
where Louis was. He wasn't there anymore.

Edward has to ball his fists into a tight clench and keep from leaping down stairs to find the boy.  
His brother needed him and blood came before anything.

"What?" Harry managed to pull away with a blotchy face and a reddened nose.

"I'll do anything for you. You know that." Edward tried saying it without reciting a single word.  
Harry's realisation made him hard. "Y-You'd leave him....for me?"

"You're hurting and I've given up many things for you, for us. So have you. I won't lose that  
dedication now."

"No." Harry shook his head and frowned. "No, I still mean to choose him like he asked. I want to  
make him feel what he made me feel after he ran away first."

Edward locks his fingers in Harry's hair and squeezes, water falling down his hands and to the  
ground. He respected his sibling's decision to be so ruthless in his payback without knowing it  
because even if he loved Louis with all his being, he's done that for a much longer time with his  
brother.

"You love him?" Edward gets as much excess moisture as he can out of Harry's knotted hair.

"I-I think so." Harry is nervous to admit. "It's so much more than that for me, Edward."

"Scary, innit?" Edward removes his own shirt to unbutton it and dry Harry's face with the soft  
material. "Most fuckin' terrifying thing there is, to love him."

"Is it the same for everyone?"

"God. I hope not."

* * * * *

Louis felt so far off the emotional spectrum that he was a victim of crippling numbness.  
He couldn't keep standing there where he'd been rejected and left alone, nor did want to move so  
that he could feel the squelch of his heart beneath his shoe. His legs moved though and he found  
himself wandering because the activity kept him warmer than being still and he could focus on  
things on the ground.

Harry said no with his body language and Louis never imagined that it would hurt more than the  
spoken word. He earned this pain and he will learn to tolerate it for as long as he needs to. He also  
doesn't expect Edward to stay with him so he prepares a small 'Okay' with a voice that doesn't sound  
completely uprooted for after the man's let rip his speech of breaking it off.

The uneven and pothole riddled ground turns to smooth tar and he's appreciative because he's been  
tripping every two stops thus far. Now, he swallows air instead of breathing it in and battles to  
swallow the saliva that gathers in his mouth.

Harry's not a psychopath to him. He is a man with green, green eyes that reveal their true depth only  
for him. No more, he shakes his head to himself. The man is he who cuddled and cut throats without  
making Louis resent him and that's a cruelly beautiful miracle.

Thoughts of Harry has Louis' chest tightening and his throat closing up with a chain of painful  
coughs. He sees a spot on the ground that looks comfortable and drops to the ground there  
immediately. It's hard on his bum but the rain cools any burn reminiscent of that.

The ground seems to understand what confused state of mind he's in and agrees to discharge any  
thoughts of the outside world. Louis hugs his knees and listens to the crickets, wishing he were  
something so perishable where nothing but instinct was important.

Emotions messed up his mind and he couldn't even analyse himself to find a way to fix things  
internally, so he sat sobbing on the ground like a teenager after their first heartbreak. Harry's eyes  
haunted him, the way they seemed dusted and glazed with nonchalance like he didn't _care_  
how deep the talons got when they clawed at Louis' chest.

_I'll never tell you I love you, Louis!_

He could see it again, could comprehend those sour feelings as they beat against their cage walls in  
his chest. His lungs were shrinking and his heart wrinkled, neither able to carry on their burdens  
when their possessor was so distraught.

The mental video played in his mind over and over again, blocking out sight and sound so he could  
focus solely on it. Louis realises that he's going to see his sisters again after he returns to  
Middleston and gets his father transferred to a hospital at home.

He didn't hear the truck approaching and he didn't see the white line he was a foot away from.  
Up on the balcony the twins did see that though and while Edward took a moment to believe that  
Louis would wake up, Harry threw himself down the stairs and manipulated the burn in his legs  
when he ran towards the road. Edward followed with as fast a speed in his muscles as he could  
handle and they both saw the truck coming closer, faster.

"Louis!" Edward shouted but the storm drowned him out.

It was honking loudly but Louis wasn't able to take heed. Harry was having muscle cramps already  
but he cursed and kicked the stone parking lot as he reached the edge of the road.

He didn't stop until he'd gotten Louis lifted into his arms and onto the other side of the road, hitting  
his elbow and scraping his knee with how fast he did it to _manage_ avoiding the truck's  
bonnet. The truck driver sped past with his hooter loud and clear, deafening Harry's ears as he fell  
on the grass and panted heavily into Louis' neck.

His knees had given out after shaking so violently, landing him in a strange position on the ground  
holding Louis like a baby. The adrenaline faded and he didn't withdraw from the boy, shutting his  
eyes and murmuring Louis' name like a prayer.

"Petal." He circled his legs around Louis and got a little hug back around his neck, a sneeze in his  
neck. "Fuck, petal. What were you thinking?"

Louis did not pull away like his gut told him to, trembling after his reverie had past and he realised  
what could have happened. "Sh-Shouldn't have done that."

"What?" Harry said between gasps, rocking back and forth with Louis clinging to him.

He doesn't get an answer from Louis. The boy on his lap and under his oath of protection is slipping  
away again.

"What are you saying, petal?" Harry presses a furious kiss to Louis' temple, grounding him again.  
"Tell me, for fuck's sake!"

"Sh-Sh-Should've-" Louis' tears of fear drip one by one onto Harry's bare skin, burning on contact.  
"Should've le-left me."

"Oh God." Harry could only choke on his own spit and breath, screwing his sore eyelids shut and  
hugging Louis with maddening strength as his denial fell out of him in the tears of his ugly sobs.  
"Oh no, petal. Fuck. Baby, how could you do that to me?"

"De-Deserve b-better-"

"Oh shut up." Harry snaps, angered by Louis' foolishness and his incorrect response. "You're my  
baby, petal. You're not leaving me or Edward. S-Silly boy."

"H-Hate me-e-"

"No!" Harry shouted at the star-less night sky. "No, petal. Stop thinking that."

"Y-You have Toto." Louis tries resisting. He's doing the right thing here. "I-I'm not g-good."

Harry cried without shame into Louis' neck against the territory of his neck, digging his fingers into  
cold skin and shoulderblades. He shook his head and Louis gave up fighting, accepting Harry's  
watery kisses on his throat and choking when it became too much.

"Mine." Harry vowed to the Gods. "Not even you can take what's mine away from me."

"B-But you said-"

"Don't worry about that." Harry tried to stand up but he could hardly _see_ straight and he fell  
back down, a fresh burn on his stinging cheeks. "I want you always, petal. I know you're sorry and  
that doesn't matter now. I-I....- You're my beginning and end, petal."

Edward stood on the other side of the road, deeply conflicted but also immensely proud. His brother  
always hid behind him if he wanted something and for once he's taken a stand, which makes  
Edward's heart glow. He smiles from all the way here and watches Harry struggle to just get on his  
feet.

Love, however deep or whichever circumstances, will always be hardest for his younger brother.  
Harry would get on his knees but not allow Louis to separate from him by even an inch, and  
therefore stumble when he tried standing up. It was the most fulfilling thing anyone could witness,  
Harry's persistence sawing Edward's soul in half and knotting it.

He wanted to help before Harry hurt them both so he stood in the middle of the vacant street and  
spoke loudly. "One leg first, Harry."

Giving precise and careful instructions without physically helping got Harry to stand. Maybe there  
was a metaphor buried in there somewhere about two other parts of this relationship failing to ever  
function without the third, but now isn't the time.

"You okay, petal?" Harry leaned against a tree with Louis wrapped around him like a koala.  
Louis nodded and pulled out of Harry's neck for the first time since the man saved his life -  
_again._ He hesitantly leaned forward and Harry completed the sequence by meshing their lips  
together, their bodies mingling through his contact. Harry moaned and Louis locked his ankles  
around the man's back.

"Don't." Harry growled when Louis' mouth parted ways with his. "Don't stop."

They kissed against a hard oak tree against which Harry's back rested, Louis holding onto him and  
surrendering with every bit of his being. He poured himself into Harry through the kiss, giving all  
of himself to him with complete faith and trust.

"I'm never putting you down." Harry said when he started to walk on his own, his back working  
against him. "So don't ask."

Louis closed his mouth and kissed Harry's forehead, smiling when hair got in his mouth. "HHarry?"

They've reached the staircase that's become a landmark in their relationship and Edward is already  
at the top. Harry has to hold the support railing but he doesn't mind one bit.

"Petal?" He walks up one by one, shoes hitting the steel and feet aching within them.

"Y-You know-" Louis bit his lip. "-I love you t-too."

The hollow tube of support shakes when Harry suddenly grabs it when he trips on a stair he  
underestimated. Louis shrieks when he's almost dropped but another set of hands are safely securing  
him by his waist.

He looks over his shoulder and Edward kisses his lips. "It's alright, petal. I've got you."

Harry uses his brother's influence and stands up straight again, never once releasing the railing on  
his right while his other hand gripped Louis' thigh. He looked at the boy with wide and electric  
eyes, green reappearing out from the ponds of black.

"I-I-" Harry stutters, only managing to stare while his lips get redder. "_Petal_, you've made  
me the happiest man."

Louis' smile becomes less afraid and his teeth show through his grin. The rain can no longer dim  
this moment in frozen time. "My Harry."

"Of course." Harry breathes in Louis' scent wafting around him. "You're always in my heart, petal."

There's a special smile on Louis' face that brightens the dullest of days and he's showcasing it all for  
Harry's sake, holding onto where Edward's still got his hand on him just to make sure. A month ago  
he'd have scrubbed his body with the harshest sanitiser and threw up in a garden, today he thrives  
on the energy they give him


	28. Chapter Twenty-Eight

***NARRATOR'S POV***

They're stuck in the tiny shower for who knows how long, all three of them making themselves fit  
in a cubicle not meant to hold three people. Their bodies are always pressed together whether for  
warmth or to all get some of the shower's hot water nobody is sure.

Louis had his head resting on Edward's shoulder, tilted back and eyes closed peacefully. Hands were  
spreading soap and water over his body but he trusted those hands and could rest while they grazed  
his heated skin. His chest was clamped up and his nasal passages were clogged but he breathed  
through his mouth and when one of his lovers kissed him he got the take in their offering.

Harry ran his hands under Louis' arms and slowed down reasonably when he got between his  
thighs. It was unnecessary to linger there so long but the hitch in Louis' breathing was a reward to  
motivate him. Edward tangled Louis' fingers with his and sucked on his neck until most of the skin  
was red or bleeding. Louis didn't care for the pricks on his throat where a droplet or two of blood  
would escape. The pain was welcome, the pleasure afterwards paralysing him.

When fingers that weren't Edward's found a path through their bodies they dipped down low.  
Harry's hand brushed Edward's groin, eyes sparkling when he listened to his brother gasp. He  
pushed two fingers down the crevice of Louis' sinful bum and Edward's hands were squeezed.  
The soap burned as Harry rubbed over him but soon Louis' neck was straining backward and his  
toes curled on the shower floor, a strangled noise leaving him. He didn't need sex tonight but the  
idea has him hardening.

Harry planted his lips on Louis' throbbing pulse, nursing from the bruised skin as he made  
grumbling noises. Edward released Louis' one hand and with it he grabbed Harry's neck, drawing  
him closer and over their petal's shoulder kissed him hungrily.

Louis felt immobilised and never once unhappy between them, a whimper pressed to Harry's nipple  
where he mouthed when one of the fingers against his rim plunged into him. It went knuckle deep  
immediately and Louis succumbed to the penetration, let it dominate him.

Edward's arm solidified against Louis' tummy and Harry had to remove his hand, bring it to the  
front where he first slipped it into their kiss for the taste to be savoured. Edward sucked on the wet  
appendages before Harry slid them between Louis' parted thighs and pumped them into him faster.  
It knocked out loud pants from the boy before the brothers pulled away from each other and start  
worshipping him.

Louis held onto Harry's forearm where it disappeared between his legs, eyes wide and lips parted.  
He made 'uh uh uh' sounds fill the bathroom and get trapped in the steam circling their naked  
bodies, all but screaming when Harry started to scissor him open.

Lips were at his ear and his shoulders, angry as they ferociously bit and nibbled on his flushed skin.  
His eyes rolled back and he loosened up his body when Harry forced his way deeper into him.  
Edward pulled Louis' cheeks apart and watched Harry's fingers work effortlessly in and out of  
Louis' puckered hole.

Bending him forward a little, Edward wet one of his own fingers and prodded around at Louis' rim  
until he could slip it in. Louis screamed and clenched over the three fingers buried inside him, his  
walls loving the scrape of nails and caress of fingertips. Sometimes Edward's lone finger will get  
between Harry's and stretch Louis out to a degree where he things he'll implode. The arousal has  
driven blood straight to the heavy length between his legs, his lips torn up and body jerking with the  
deep pumps of long fingers.

"Are you up for it, petal?" Harry took Louis' earlobe between his lips.

Louis nodded, not stopping until he's sure the question is thoroughly answered. His mind is foggy  
with the need to orgasm, the fingers inside him reaching too deep without allowing him a proper  
release.

"Gonna let Harry fuck you." Edward took his finger out and his hands slowly, torturously glided  
down to scratch at where thigh met pelvis.

Convulsing from the unknown sensitivity, Louis let out a loud moan to the ceiling and tried to touch  
himself. He wanted to come so badly.

"Better yet, darlin'." Edward wrapped his hand around Harry's wrist and extracted the fingers from  
Louis' body. "Make yourself come. We're going to watch."

Louis whined from his throat at the idea. He's never really wanked before but his libido was in  
overdrive and this excited him.

"Yeah?" Harry's lips closed over Louis', his tongue tasting as much as he can with an open-mouthed  
kiss. "We've always wanted to see you get yourself off, petal. Bet you look so _wrecked_ at  
the end."

"I-I've never...-" Louis blushes, biting his upper lip.

Edward groaned like the fantasy ruined him. "Never?"

Louis shyly shook his head once, eyes glossy and eyelashes darkened by the water.

The water was switched off and Harry held onto the globes of Louis' bum like he couldn't live  
without being attached to it. He helped the boy by holding his hand and leading him out into the  
dark bedroom where Edward stripped the blanket and duvet off one bed to leave just one pillow and  
the mattress sheet.

"Up." Edward patted Louis' hip. "On your back with your legs spread. We'll guide you since this is  
your first time pleasuring yourself."

Louis thought them to be the ideal people to do it because nobody knew what he liked and how he  
liked it better than them, not even himself until after they did it.

He did as asked, obediently crawling up the mattress and laying down spread eagle. He found  
himself to be extremely nervous and would probably shake like a leaf if he didn't know these men  
has seen, touched and tasted all that there is of him.

"Lift up your legs, petal." Harry spoke to him from the foot of the bed.

Without delay Louis' feet were pressed flat against Harry's torso, one at time socks being slid onto  
them before Harry released him. Louis waited for instruction, the not so dull throb between his legs  
not dying down. He wished for friction and let himself break a rule by wrapping a hand around  
himself.

"Don't be afraid." Edward's voice told him far away but in his ear, the deep throaty voice getting his  
hand to move faster.

Louis' hand ran up and down the hard length engulfed by it, making his hips buck upward and eyes  
close. He couldn't bring himself close enough without a mental image of being taken by one or both  
of the twins, his thumb digging into the swollen slit of his erection as he arched.

"Use your fingers." Harry instructed, voice firm and lower than usual as he tried not to touch  
himself.

Edward knew he'd cave from the start and fisted a hand around himself, jerking off to the sight of  
Louis' arm stretching to reach behind him. The sight of his hole makes Harry weak and to see it red,  
black in the middle where he was still open had him groaning in suffering.

"What are you thinking about, petal?" Edward asked, breathing hard and staring at where Louis'  
middle finger entered himself.

"D-Daddy." Louis moaned and let go of his length to get on his hands and knees.

He arched obscenely and Edward closed his eyes to find the restraint that would keep him here.  
Louis didn't want that because when he reopened them the boy's delicious ass was display for them,  
one hand reaching behind him to jab desperately at his insides. He whined and whimpered and bit  
his other arm, three fingers deep and deprived.

Harry moved a step forward by reflex and Edward looked at him for an explanation, before  
nodding. His brother was on Louis before he could glance away, removing Louis' hand and flipping  
him over. He smashed their lips together as one unit and Louis willingly spread his legs and raised  
his hips.

"Good boy." Harry repeated in Louis' neck, positioning himself without looking and hurriedly  
slamming inside. "Oh _fuck_, petal."

They stayed still for a moment while they both adjusted to the maddening tightness and the ferocity  
of a thick c*ck with no more lube than spit tearing Louis apart.

"Hmph." Harry struggled with his rapidly increasing arousal. "You love it, baby. Love Daddy's  
c*ck."

Louis didn't bring himself to argue because _he did_. He loves Harry's and Edward's bodies,  
every facet and feature included. He'd spend a whole day just exploring and touching their bodies if  
he could, learn every trick and tweak and weakness.

Harry was pounding into him before he could bring himself to reply, veins in his neck sticking out  
with his head rocked back barely on the pillow. His pelvis stung from how hard and fast the thrusts  
were, an open mouth at his clavicle lapping at the sweat residue. Harry was swearing and holding  
Louis' body against his, driving into the boy's shaking body.

"Slower." Edward's voice came from somewhere to their right side where the other bed was.

Louis initially didn't think Harry would do it because of the gutwrenching sound he made of  
disapproval. His fingers were sinking into Harry's curls as Harry's girth slammed into him  
ferociously.

_"Now."_

Harry immediately stopped thrusting, buried so deep inside the confines of his petal that he had no  
trouble brushing up against Louis' prostate. It made Louis want to cry and dig his heels into the  
mattress until they hurt. He had a rapidly heaving chest that met Harry's on every intake of air, their  
sights aligned as Harry _slowly_ pulled out until just the head was in.

He let Louis stew in the emptiness while his lips suckled on one of the boy's perky nipples. They  
were pink from stimulation and Harry's mouth watered at the sight. He let a little saliva drip out the  
corner of his mouth and teased the nub by swirling the tip of his tongue around it.

Louis rolled his hips as an initiating act and halfway down Harry met him, quickly resuming his  
cautious thrusts. This rhythm didn't burn as Harry took him apart with loving care and safety.  
Keeping eye contact became nearly impossible when Louis couldn't handle all the things being  
done to him and he came between the heat of their bodies.

Harry worked him through it and Louis' legs clung to his hips, making the effort harder but the  
sensation greater. Edward knew Louis was getting sensitive by the way he twitched and winced at  
more contact with his deepest spot.

"Keep going." Edward told Harry when the latter began to feel guilty, nosing at Louis' hairline after  
he departed from his nipple. "Starting to hurt, petal?"

Louis' noises were cut off by his lack of cool air. His spine jolted when Harry rolled his neglected  
nipple between hiss fingers, pinching and drawing it out. An arm slides under Louis' head for him to  
rest against, hiking his legs up so his thighs are against the tops of Harry's. The corners of his eyes  
start to burn but when Harry grabs his ass instead of his legs to bend him a little more that's  
forgotten.

He turns his head to the side and absorbs the radiance from the image of Edward getting off to  
them. Biting his lip when Edward looks at him, Louis brings Harry down to kiss him. His arm locks  
around Harry's neck and he turns his head to the side, feeling Harry go stiff inside him before he's  
coming.

"Petal." Harry says raggedly, accent worsened by his exertion.

"Daddy." Louis pushed Harry's hair back and smiled, his lower half burning up but he loves  
everything that has to do with his two lovers.

Harry peppers his kisses all over the regions of Louis' neck and face that he can reach, turning his  
victim into a giggling recipient. Louis sets the heels of his feet on the top of Harry's thighs and the  
stretch doesn't burn more than it eases the pressure on his insides. Harry kisses him once on his  
forehead before holding Louis' inner thighs and pulling out his softened length. 

Louis stands up after Harry rolls off him to the other edge of the bed to grab his pack of cigarettes.  
Edward welcomes Louis on his lap, immediately cupping his petal's very delectable behind and  
making him grind against his still pulsating and aggravated length.

"Daddies need their petals too." Louis drops Edward down onto his back, winking when Edward's  
smouldering gaze flickers to him.

Edward gives in to the God-like creature on his lap, dripping come as lube onto his red shaft as he  
rocked his hips in figure eights. He cranes his neck towards the opposite wall when Louis makes his  
c*ck stand with his grip, teasing the head like a little minx before sinking down inch by inch.  
The sheath of Louis' body is perfectly fitted to them and Harry watches with smoke arising from his  
lips as Louis rides his brother to a near climax. Edward comes and Louis tosses his head back  
between his shoulders, nails pressing past skin as he takes the flood of warm seed.

"Fuck." Edward helps Louis off him and scoops the boy in his arms, cradling him as he brings him  
back to their bed.

"Do you have a plug?" Harry asks with a cigarette between his lips, extending his arm and Louis  
nods off using it as a pillow.

Edward takes the white stick and inhales from it one long puff before handing it back. "Let him  
sleep. I'll clean him up in the morning."

* * * * *

"Your friend is an ass!" Niall storms into his and Liam's hotel room with a single purple -  
_purple_ \- rose from Zayn.

Zayn's been discharged for a whole day and as promised took Niall and Liam on a date to a seaside  
restaurant. Niall was unhappy about something that nobody could put their finger on.

"He gave you a rose, duckling." Liam tries to calm his boyfriend - one of them? - down by watching  
him furiously make a cup of black coffee. "You hate black coffee."

"I'm gonna pour it down his pants, Liam." Niall says heatedly.

Chuckling nevertheless, Liam unplugs the kettle and takes the rose from Niall. "I know you like the  
rose."

"I do." Niall admits, following Louis' habit of shoving his hands in other people's pockets.

"Then what's the problem?"

"He gave me just one?"

Planting a kiss on Niall's head, Liam nearly crushes him in an embrace. "Try again."

"He's nice." Niall relents, sagging against Liam's chest. "I really like him."

"Yeah? I'm glad, Ni." Liam wraps his arms now around Niall's shoulders. "What's wrong then?"

"I'm worried about doing the wrong thing. This relationship is so _different_, Liam." He sets  
his eyes on Liam's and begs for assistance.

"I know but I'm right there with you, okay? Nothing to be afraid about." Liam hears a knock on the  
door and sighs. "You left him in the lobby."

Groaning like an errant child, Niall pretends to be annoyed and stomps over to the door. He opens it  
with peace and steps outside into the hallway with Zayn.

"I made coffee." Niall tells him, pointing to the room door. "Wanna come in?"

Zayn smirked in amusement and handed Niall the jacket he left behind. "I'm pretty sure you locked  
us both out, ducky."

Niall curses and turns around to knock on the door. Closed fist raised midair, he's stopped and lips  
land on his in a fury. Hands secure his face and he takes a moment to appreciate that Zayn knows  
how to kiss and isn't being an over ambitious idiot. Zayn only pulls away from him after he's  
satisfied.

"So-" Zayn smiles and catches Niall when he tries running off, smiling with a bitten lip as he  
backed him up against the door. "-do you accept me as well?"

"Um....-" Niall kind of wants to make sure nobody gets to see them so indecently. "-get me eleven  
more purple roses and I'm all yours."


	29. Chapter Twenty-Nine

***NARRATOR'S POV***

"Wake up." Harry's voice infiltrates Louis' peaceful slumber, enabling a vault that crashes down  
over his dream of green eyes and tall trees.

Louis doesn't respond at first because he's comfortable and in no mood to wake up. His face lay  
hidden against his arm as he slept on his front, one leg crooked over Edward's and Harry's hand  
over his front where he could feel his breathing.

"Petal?" Harry ran the tip of his nose along Louis' jaw and nuzzled his neck, feeling overly  
affectionate today. "Wake up, baby."

Rolling over, Louis turned towards Harry and pulled the thin covering up but his bare leg still stuck  
out and tangled with Harry's. He blinked sleepily at the man and smiled tiredly, slowly falling back  
under.

"Hey." Harry rubbed his sides. "Come watch the sunrise with me?"

Louis is a sucker for when Harry is in this adorable mood so he nods and encases himself in a  
comforter. Harry grins and kisses him a little too hard for so early in the morning, but Louis touches  
the side of his face and thumbs over his dimple to reimburse himself.

"Gotta carry me though." Louis says scratchily, reaching up with his arms ready to give out if Harry  
didn't accept them.

He did thankfully, and hauled Louis off the bed to leave Edward sleeping on his pillow. Harry fits  
Louis on his back, trailing bed sheets and all while he just wore boxers with shoes. Louis tries not to  
fall asleep as he receives this piggy back ride to the door and beyond, latching onto his very tall  
carrier with his legs and arms.

The balcony is chilly at this ungodly hour of the morning, dawn just passing by when Harry reaches  
the railing. Louis covers his shoulders with the sheet and holds it around Harry's as well, which gets  
him a kiss on his wrist. The sun is just peeking out from behind the grey clouds that formed after  
the morning's dew drops.

Harry has another cigarette out by the time grey turns into beautiful red and orange, splitting the  
clouds and welcoming the day. He lights up the fag with a steel lighter, inhaling to get a red buzz  
before handing it to Louis.

"Absolutely not." Louis waves the horrid smoke away from him.  
Amused but understanding, Harry still makes Louis hold it. "Can't hold you and the cigarette,  
petal."

Indeed moments later Harry has Louis secured with both hands showing effort, the boy deciding  
when Harry gets to take a whiff of smoke from the cigarette as he holds it to or away from his lips.

"Did you wake up to watch the sun rising?" Louis moves his hand from Harry's chest to his hair,  
straightening the curls between his fingers.

"I couldn't sleep." Harry confesses, clearing his throat and exhaling smoke through his lips. "Spent  
the last four hours watching you sleep."

Louis pouted and nearly burnt himself when he forgot about the cigarette and closed his arms  
around Harry's shoulders. "Come sit with me today when we get on the road again. I'll help you  
sleep."

"Thanks, petal." Harry kisses Louis' pale bicep. "Fuckin' hungry though. We haven't eaten."

"I have raisins and a breakfast bar?" Louis offers to him, knowing the hunger pangs from personal -  
current - experience.

"No thanks, Lou." Harry shifts Louis a little further up his body, sighing happily when Louis' ankles  
cross in front of him. "It's beautiful, yeah?"

"The sun?" Louis pinches the cigarette and Harry kisses his fingers when they come near his mouth.

"Yes. The sun." Harry laughed, rubbing the length of Louis' thighs to keep them warm. "What do  
you think of it?"

_"Of the sun?"_ Louis teasingly clarifies, giggling when Harry pinches his hip. "I think it's not  
as wonderful as you, Daddy."

Louis hides his blushing face in Harry's neck right after that, closing his eyes as well. Harry gives  
his cheek a kiss and grins wolfishly as they bump noses by a cute accident. Flicking the cigarette  
down to the ground way down below them, Louis celebrates the sacrifice by placing his hand on the  
side of Harry's face so he can't turn away.

"I saw that, petal." Harry closes his eyes and kisses Louis' throat, lips near pouting as they tried to  
never stop.

Dipping his head, Louis allowed for their lips to meet. He finally pulled away and rested his chin  
back on Harry's head, gazing at the arising sun as it freed itself. The vision made him smile and he  
made absent-minded circles on Harry's clavicle with his index.

The peace and tranquillity of their time spent outside probably contracting pneumonia meant so  
much to both of them. Nothing ever interrupted it because it's too early - and too damn cold - for  
anyone in their right mind to be outside. A disturbance was Harry kissing some part of Louis and  
the latter retaliating some how.

"Hey, Harry?" Louis didn't realise his voice would be so unclear after their silence lasted over seven  
minutes.

Harry doesn't entirely know how to respond to a greeting in the middle of a union. He frowns and  
tries. "Hello?" 

After Louis stops his light laughter, he plays with the lighter of Harry's that has the engraving of  
two blades crossing on it. "Thank you for waking me to watch this with you."

"Are you being sarcastic, petal?"

"No!" Louis gasps. "It's really beautiful so thank you. I love you."

Hearing those words in his ear makes Harry feel like he's floating just as the clouds above them are.  
He let's them sedate the evil thoughts in his head that plague his mind every single day to become,  
just for a moment, as normal as they'll let him. Louis might never know what he can do with just  
those words.

"It's only as beautiful because I have you here, petal." Harry leans his head against Louis'. "You  
make everything brighter."

Louis presses his lips to Harry's temple, not withdrawing until he's certain Harry understands that he  
feels the exact same way. "You and Edward are my everything."

They stand like that holding onto each other like there's nothing besides them in a shitty motel  
facing the most spectacular view at the start of a new day. Louis almost never wants to go back to  
Middleston where everything is dreary and complicated. He wants to spend his life driving with  
these two men, spending every night in a new motel with a new sunrise everyday.

He knows it's impossible and it guts him.

"It's cold now. Let's go inside." Harry says after Louis sneezes, completely blocking himself under  
the cover he dragged out here with them.

"I really want muffins for breakfast." Louis says once they're indoors and Edward is no longer  
asleep, frowning at his phone while he stood by the box TV.

Edward looked so soft and sleepy, utterly harmless with his mouth closed and silvery hair untamed.  
He was in boxer briefs and coughed into his fist before a sniffle, looking up and smiling at the two  
who just entered.

"Morning." Louis is carefully dropped to the ground near Edward on Harry's way to the bathroom.  
"Good morning." His voice got extra sultry in the early morning hours and Louis accepted his kiss  
quickly before the offer is gone. "What were you and my brother doing outside?"

"Watching the sun come out." Louis tells truthfully, wrapping the thin white sheet more comfortably  
around his shoulders. "Why are you awake?"

"Woke up and neither of you were there." Edward drapes an arm around Louis' shoulders, pulling  
him in for a tender kiss only fit for this kind of morning.

Louis cooes and wrinkles his nose at the uncomfortable feeling on his skin between his legs.  
Edward laughs and takes his hand, escorting him to the bathroom. Harry is in there brushing his  
teeth and Louis gets out his toothbrush too before Edward can do anything drastic.

A comfortable silence fell over them again as Louis finished brushing and gargled, moving away to  
use the toilet but not being allowed to. Edward held onto his hip with a firm grip and Harry smirked  
at the boy through the mirror.

Before he knew it he was being bent over the counter but not made to touch the unappealing  
surface. The wind was knocked out of him and he managed to swallow whole the scream that had  
caught onto his throat. Edward was still behind him, his hand holding him down by the lower point  
on his back.

"What are you doing?" Louis holds himself up on his elbows, glaring at Edward's smug grin.

"Shh." Harry kisses Louis' cheek and bends to kiss the bare side of his hip. "Just gotta get you  
clean."

"I can shower." Louis tells Edward, Harry having already left the room.

"Oh no, petal." Edward has his eyes downcast, focusing on the sight open to him looking so  
vulnerable and perfect.

Edward plugs the basin and fills it with hot water, not adding even a little cold water to even the  
temperature. He takes a cloth out from their own bag - not in any Hell trusting the motel's awful  
stuff - and soaks it in the water, his hand turning red from how hot it is.

"Ed-Edward." Louis starts to push back and hopefully get free, the steam leaving _the cloth_  
frightening him.

"Relax." Edward spreads the flannel out and folds it, before lowering it to right between Louis'  
cheeks.

Louis hisses and tries leaving it, the burn too much but also not as reckless as he thought it would  
be. After a morning spent with no clothing on outside, this sudden burst of warmth is accepted by  
his deceptive body. He fists his hands and bites his lip, spreading his legs further.

"You're so obedient when you want to be, petal." Edward wipes him down, drenching and not  
squeezing the cloth so hot water runs down Louis' legs onto the rubber mat.

Unable to speak, Louis' eyelids hurt when they fly open at the intrusion of Edward's finger in his  
body. It's wet and rubbing against him to clean him out or work him up some more but either way  
Louis starts getting hard again. Edward notices and tosses the bed sheet onto the ground, out of  
Louis' paws.

Edward suddenly removes his finger and goes back to the cloth, smirking at Louis via the mirror  
because he knows very well what he's done. Louis releases a huff of air and straightens his arms,  
allowed to turn around if he hoists himself up onto the counter.

He just manages to without slipping on his first attempt, and his feet are set on the cold tile as well,  
spread apart so he's completely and utterly exposed between them. Edward is unfazed by all the  
nudity marked as a signature habit between the three of them, and so Louis has also come to accept  
this.

"We'll stay here for a few more hours." Edward runs the dripping cloth along the insides of Louis'  
right thigh, followed by his hand and a soft pat right beside his slowly hardening length. "Looks like  
you've got a situation, baby."

Louis whimpers when Edward grabs hold of his no longer flaccid member with the wet cloth - its  
temperature now warm and not scalding - and swipes over the length once. He let's his legs fall  
apart and moans brokenly. Louis saw also the bulge in Edward's underwear and lowered his legs to  
lean forward and distract him with a kiss while he slipped his hand beneath the waistband of his  
boxer briefs.

The kiss was as all their kisses are: messy and loud. Louis smiles and Edward's tongue invades his  
mouth, licking the pink muscle in a massage. They'd moan and Louis made especially high  
whimpers whenever the moment got too heated.

Louis hooks his thumbs under the elastic and Edward let's him push it off, his hands coming around  
to bravely squeeze the man's behind. It makes Edward bite his lip and groan when Louis started  
working his hand on him, slow pumps where he flicked his wrist and circled the head at all the right  
moments.

"Fucking Hell, petal." Edward pulled Louis closer and his hips moved to their own accord with  
Louis' hand. "Yeah, baby. Tighter."

Louis squeezes his hand for a moment and his breathing turns choppy but he's satisfied when  
Edward starts holding onto him like he's a parachute. He eventually begins to ignore his own  
orgasm and sticks two fingers into his own mouth.

"What- _fuck_." Edward handles his sprouting arousal by seeking out the comfort of Louis'  
neck.

"Daddy." Louis tugs Edward by his hair, pulling him away. "You gotta watch, Daddy."

Edward's not immune to this boy. He is not strong enough to watch Louis extract those fingers  
before entering himself with them. He could be, but he won't allow it. His petal is his strength and  
his weakness. Louis waits long enough to test that he's properly open, scissoring his fingers and  
never faltering in getting Edward off.

"Careful, pup." Edward observes like a silent predator when Louis guides him to his hole, closing  
his legs around him and completing the process by tightening.

"New name, Daddy?" Louis is breathless but cheeky enough to try talking anyway.

"Yeah, baby." Edward's arm wraps around Louis lower back and cages him in as he starts to thrust,  
using Louis' body for his pleasure. "You're my slut too, petal."

Louis' hands find purchase on Edward's shoulders, hair falling back between his flexing  
shoulderblades as he's fucked. His jaw falls open and his mind empties of coherent capabilities. He  
just lives, breathes and survives on this. Edward grunts into Louis' throat where marks - love-bites  
and regular bites - were scattered for every eye to see.

"Yours, Daddy." Louis dug his nails into Edward's neck. "Love you."

"Love you so much, baby." Edward was caught between sucking, biting and kissing Louis' already  
bruised skin. He wants to do them all but he can't and he's so _desperate._

Edward made Louis feel like his insides were being beat on in the most loving way, bruising his  
walls and leaving it kissed. He could do more than pray to not get torn up inside, but the starved  
part of his brain wants it to hurt bad enough that he won't be able to sit for days.

When Louis' legs slipped, Edward caught them with his nails instead of his fingers and not so  
gently jerked them even higher. His flexibility was being far stretched and Louis could not do more  
than hold onto the wall's metal rack and let his body be assaulted so well.

"Fuck. Come here, baby." Edward yanked Louis off the counter, ingesting his scream when Louis'  
teeth clung to his lower lip.

Louis' back hits the wall and he winces from the painful impact, but crosses his legs around Edward  
and knotted his fingers in his hair, letting himself be used. He emitted sincere noises of pleasure as  
Edward pounded into him and only emphasised the burn of minimal lube.

Edward would turn carnivorous in his neck juncture and Louis hung onto him like desperate prey,  
needing to be consumed. His prostate is sensitive from last night and it starts to throb once more,  
throwing him off a cliff and catching him to haul him back to the top before a fatal collision.

Hips meet his in a magnetic pull, back and forth it pivoted without a care to be gentle. Edward held  
Louis' thighs just under his arms, folding the boy in half and kept them both upright by the strength  
of a miracle.

Louis came first, shooting thick white ropes up to his chin as he grated his nails against Edward's  
knuckles. The man that pinned him came to a halt after six thrusts, stilling and finally emptying  
himself into Louis to defeat his purpose of coming into the bathroom.

"Uh." Louis' head hit the wall as he worked on slowing his breathing. "No more sex for me."

Edward chuckles and kisses his way to Louis' nose. "You crave it, pup. There's no escaping what  
you'll always seek."

With a roll of his eyes and little smile playing on his lips, Louis surrenders the battle. "I imagine  
that is true."

"Petal." Edward mourns the moment he has to withdraw and lead Louis back to the basin to  
_actually_ clean up this time. "Can I ask you something?"

"Sure." Louis is wiped down with the cloth from earlier and now luke warm water, smiling in  
encouragement.

"If my brother hadn't taken it too far with that Anthony fellow-" Edward gauges Louis' impassive  
reaction as he speaks. "-or forced you to stay, would you have found a reason to anyway?"

"I don't know." Louis pulls in through his nose and gets off the tiles by starting to stand on just his  
tiptoes. "You _do_ know though, don't you?"

"You wouldn't have stayed if we didn't force you to." Edward speak out loud his worst nightmare.  
"Imagine all that would never have taken place because of that one little thing."

Louis doesn't favour where this conversation may lead and hugs Edward around his neck, shivering  
just the least when Edward embraces him back. Calloused hands slide over his smooth back and dip  
where he curves, glides where he's supple.

"It doesn't matter." Louis says convincingly, eyes blazing. "We're far away from those things and  
that place now."

Edward's lips curve into a smile of genuine heartfelt emotion oozing out of the gaps in his torn  
heart, his sick and tired soul doing a poor job of protecting it. Their foreheads rest against each  
other's in an ideal scenario of co-dependence.

"There's a demon in everyone-" Edward kisses Louis' fingertips when they come up to brush his  
jawline. "-and mine chose to live in you."

* * * * *

"Are you sure, petal?" Harry asks, unsure whether it's really okay with Louis that he does this.  
Edward had gone out to get breakfast because he absolutely hated the thought of eating any morsel  
of food from this pitiful establishment. He left Harry and Louis alone in their room while he drove  
to the nearest place available for food.

Harry is lighting up another cigarette, lying on his back beside where Louis lay on his stomach.  
They were both naked down to their underwear, no need for extra clothing when they hardly felt the  
cold at all. Louis crossed his ankles in the air over his back while and Harry was using the precious  
dip in his back caused by the muscle stretch as his ash tray.

"Yes, Harry." Louis giggled at the question being asked for a third time. The ash wasn't hot and he  
really didn't feel like it was there at all.

Louis found a programme on TLC - oh how he despised the channel - called Cake Boss and settled  
down to watch that, dropping the remote onto the sheets. He heard a shuffle and felt the bed sinking  
as Harry moved closer to him, banding an arm over the curve after Louis' hips. His head rested in  
the middle of Louis' back while the rest of his body curled around his petal.

"What are you doing down there?" Louis noticed no other movement after Harry became attached  
to him.

"Nothin'." Harry sniffed as he took another drag of his cigarette, blowing out the smoke to cascade  
over Louis' hips and dropping the ash onto the boy's skin. "You're better than a pillow, petal."

"Thanks, Daddy. Although-" Louis' eyes were crinkling Harry will _bet his life_ on it. "-I  
_am_ a living thing."

For the ass, Harry harmlessly pinched Louis' bum and chuckled at the little squeal Louis makes. He  
closes his eyes and, with his fag between two fingers, presses his face into the boy's wondrous  
curves. Breathing deeply like Louis was the greatest ever source of nicotine, Harry sometimes  
pecked the skin beneath his lips.

Then came the small set of dimples before the end of Louis' back, where Harry's ash sat unmoving  
except for breathing motions. Harry could see that Louis' skin has made a full recovery from his  
mistreatment from weeks ago. That just won't stand when he's vowed to mark up Louis physically  
as his.

"Do you remember any breakfast joints in this area?" Louis asked, TV show forgotten and now  
browsing through Harry's phone.

"Yes." Harry sets the tip of his cigarette dangerously close to Louis' skin where he can _just turn  
it a little bit._ "That McDonalds place and two places at the lodge."

"McDonalds for breakfast?" Louis' scrunched nose said he wasn't a fan of the idea.

Harry shrugged and his upper body almost crushed Louis' bottom half because of his mass pressing  
the boy deeper into the mattress. The noise of rusty springs and the rickety contraption that was  
their plumbing filled the air. Harry took a breath filled with tobacco and Louis shivered when the  
resulting smoke fogged over his skin, causing sweat.

Down here where Harry was rubbing his thumb back and forth, claiming the area as his. Just his,  
not even Edward could have it. He wanted part of Louis to hurt whenever he moved a specific way,  
remind him who his Daddy is always going to be. Harry watched his cigarette go a little dim and  
knew he couldn't risk it, so when he dropped the ash he held the hot tip to a clean spot of skin.

Louis instantly wriggled and hissed from the pain. "Har- Harry!"

His voice calling Harry's name was a shriek as he clenched his teeth and dug his fists into the bed,  
begging for relief when the cigarette didn't let up. He teared up and Harry didn't let him move an  
inch away when he flicked the cigarette away, hugging Louis around the middle and feeling  
content. It's just the beginning but this mark is good enough for now.

"What did you _do_, Harry?!" Louis kicked his legs and almost got Harry in the face but the  
man pinned him down.

"Shh." Harry admired the perfect red circle on Louis' skin where he ruined its perfection all by  
himself. He's sickeningly proud of himself. "Look how beautiful it is, petal."

It burns like absolute Hell and if Louis could he would pull on Harry's hair to get him away but alas  
the man is devious. He let's it pass after trying not to cry pathetically and stick the pain because this  
is the kind of regular occurrence he needs to get accustomed to.

"You're sweating, darlin'." Harry kisses down the line to Louis' newest scar, tasting ash and sweat  
like a brilliant drug.

"A-Are you going to make a-another one?" Louis asks shakily, biting his lip as he prayed not.  
"No." He granted Louis mercy, starting up a fresh love-bite beside the cigarette burn. "Not today.  
Do you love me, petal?"

Louis has to catch his breath before he replies. He knows nothing has changed about that, however  
twisted his mind makes it out to be. "Love you, Daddy."

Harry is so happy whenever he hears that, he just grins and buries his face in Louis' beautiful back.  
"You're my beginning and my end, petal."

Louis can never properly return to his television show because he's nervous about what Harry's  
getting up to where he held him like a space heater. He wasn't afraid and slightly grateful that he  
wasn't warned so he'd anticipate the glorious pain. Now, Harry sprung those moments on him and  
he'd just hope that the forms of marking wouldn't get worse.

Harry was preoccupied with kissing and examining the path of burnt skin. He loved it so much on  
his petal where his marks deserved to be. It filled him with great satisfaction to note that Louis did  
not openly object to he doing this. What a beauty he has for a lover.

"Petal?" Harry used a tissue to clean up the ash on Louis' body, tossing it a meter from the trash can  
and flipping Louis over.

Louis was on his back staring up at Harry, feet flat on the bed near the center and arching his spine  
so the cigarette burn doesn't make contact with degraded sheets.

Harry crawled over him, between his thighs and nuzzled his neck where it felt most comfortable.  
"My sweet petal."

Laughing softly, Louis felt Harry's arm come up under his body to weld them into one unit. "My  
Harry."

Harry kissed his cheek. "Your Harry."

"Now, my Harry, would you mind doing your petal a favour?" Louis asks, sweet as sugar as he  
combs through the man's hair.

"Favour, baby?" Harry lifts his head from Louis' shoulder, eyes open and willing.  
"We can't leave that mark you made down there open. Can you put a band aid or something on it,  
please?"

Feeling guilty for not remembering that himself, Harry nods and grabs a small bag from the other  
bed. He should have known to do this without Louis reminding him, but he was side-tracked by  
Louis himself and his devastating beauty.

He woke up to go to the bathroom and come back with a cold cloth, pressing it over the burn that  
was starting to swell and make Louis irritable with how it _hurt._ Harry folded and refolded  
the cloth to make sure it stayed cool and over the burn, sometimes squeezing the water out to let it  
sit idle on Louis' skin.

"Does it still hurt?" Harry crossed his legs and dabbed around the red skin, pleased with the state of  
his purple hickie.

"Little bit." Louis admits, propped up on his elbows and trying to look over his shoulder.

"It'll stop now, baby." Harry tells him, planting a kiss on Louis' sweaty shoulder. "Thank you for  
letting me do it."

"I didn't." Louis reminds with a coy smirk. "You have to ask next time you feel like doing that,  
okay?"

Harry nods and removes the cloth, instantly the white heat of a healing burn returning to Louis'  
flesh. He collapses onto the sheets and rests his head on his folded arms.

"You're so pretty when you're marked by me." Harry reminisces, rubbing over Louis' soft hip.  
"Especially pretty, petal."

The boy is breathing a little heavier but he smiles when Harry leans over him to kiss him. He puts  
his hand on Harry's cheek and let's the kiss stay moderately chaste because Harry understands that  
he's uncomfortable at the moment.

"Are you my...in twenty-first century courting terms 'boyfriend', petal?" Harry asks in an amusing  
manner, making Louis' eyes light up as he laughs. "Petal?"

"_Twenty-first century courting terms'_, Haz?" Louis lies on his back, still arched slightly,  
pulling Harry all the more close by his ears. "You're so dorky."

"You haven't answered the _question_, petal." Harry groans disapprovingly, craving a suitable  
response.

"Yes, Harry. You're my dorky boyfriend." Louis loses his concentration to focus on the way Harry  
switches his extrovertial moods in a split second.

Harry is very pleased after that and ignores his phone when it rings with Edward's name flashing  
across the screen. He just spends his time palpating Louis' hips and maybe a bit lower, leaving his  
target of praise to answer the device.

"Edward?" Louis puts the call of speaker-phone because in case Harry had to actually answer  
something.

"Petal." Edward breathes Louis' name out like a talisman. "Where's my brother?"

"I'm here." Harry stops exploring Louis' tummy to pay attention.

"I'm coming back and someone needs to open the door because I didn't bring a key."

"Okay." Harry wipes the cold underside of his nose with finger and kneels straight up, gripping  
Louis' legs so they don't close. Homes should always be open to their owners. "Louis let me mark  
him."

Louis stares openly with a gaping jaw when Harry says it, sounding like a pre-teen when he's  
confessing such a thing to his brother. What if Edward isn't happy?

"Really?" Edward cuts off the engine to the Rover. "I want to see it when I get up there."

The call ends just then and Harry cackles when Louis scrambles off the bed to put a long enough   
Tshirt on. Louis grabs an appropriate shirt from his mess of belongings that turns out to be one of  
Harry's hideous silk button-ups with mosaic designs on it. Unlike Harry though, he buttons it all the  
way to the top.

"He's going to see it either way, petal." Harry gets up to unlock the door and leave it cracked open.

Louis makes him sit back against the headboard and snuggles up to him under his chin. He looks  
quite small between Harry's legs and everytime he looks up, Harry kisses his forehead. He looks up  
often.

Edward pushes open the door with his elbow and kicks it closed after stepping inside. The  
temperature outside is in the single digits and the sun serves no purpose in fighting the damn cold.  
Nothing is said about Louis' mark while Edward dumps the food on the bed and toes off his boots.

"Cold?" Louis is the first one to speak, breaking the ice with an obvious question.

Turning his head to the side, Edward raises an eyebrow at his petal while Harry laughs. "Yes, petal."

Louis pouts and makes his way over to Edward, carefully entering the cage of his cold arms where  
he can warm the man up. That plan is obviously foiled when Harry indicates to Edward where the  
mark is and Louis is tossed onto his front so his shirt can be lifted.

"Nice." Edward says, releasing Louis from the bed after he applies a little pressure to the burn.  
"Does it hurt any?"

Louis, having lost the battle when he went to Edward, answers around the fries he's munching. "I  
can manage."

Humming, Edward doesn't kiss the area because he knows already how pissed his brother would he.  
He sits up and Louis stays on his front, facing the wall near the bathroom as he opens a burger  
container and passes Harry the brown paper bag.

Edward had gotten a chicken fold-over that's so much bigger than a burger but won't swap with  
Louis when he's asked. Louis resorts to forfeiture and sits with his leg around Edward's back, the  
other bent at the knee over the man's hip.

"You can have first bite if you want it that badly, petal." Edward offers after a moment of  
consideration.

Louis smiles and holds Edward's hand steady as he bites the warm wrap right in the middle. "You  
can't have my burger though."

"I thought as much." Edward smirked as he kissed Louis on his forehead, firmly and making Louis  
smile.

They finished eating and Louis got dressed in the bathroom - he didn't specify that he was going to  
put clothes on before he returned - before Harry did. Edward slipped his shoes back on and Louis  
fitted under his arm while Harry went to pay for the room.

The morning is dull but ideally so. Louis loves weather like this. He stood by the Rover's trunk  
while Edward packed their bags back into it, staring up at the grey sky. The sun didn't even have an  
effect today.

"You smoke too?" Louis asked when Harry handed Edward his cigarette after returning from the  
office.

Edward took a drag and handed it back, blowing out a puff of grey when he slightly parted his lips  
and it escaped through the sharp corners of this teeth. He looked terrifying like that but Louis didn't  
shiver from that.

"Not as often as him." Edward held Louis' door open and without shame watched him get up onto  
the high seat.

Harry turned on the heater as soon as he was inside as well on the passenger side at the front. He  
didn't try again with putting the radio on, knowing it would be pointless. Edward pulled out of their  
parking spot and Louis looked out the window with his travel blanket around him again. The motel  
got smaller and smaller as Edward sped up on the freeway, finally disappearing behind the trees.  
It was a little unsettling to be driving down a road like this in weather so gloomy, but Louis knew he  
was safe and it wasn't because of central locking.

They drove in silence for a while, Harry eventually falling asleep with his seatbelt serving as an odd  
pillow structure. Louis did so as well when he couldn't keep his eyes open any longer, the lulling of  
the smooth Rover and its calm engine sending him straight under.

He woke up after four hours - finally replenishing his full eight our sleep schedule - and the Rover  
was parked on the side of the road with both front doors wide open. Not thinking much of it but also  
a little intrigued, he sat up to stretch and didn't see that his door was open too with Edward standing  
just outside staring at him. Watching every move until Louis finally sensed those eyes and turned.  
Edward grabbed him and Louis screamed when he was dragged onto the road rather than carried. At  
the tightening of such a grip on him, Louis found himself shooting awake just an hour after falling  
asleep.

The nightmare was quick and gone so soon but he was sweating and had eyes wide as saucers,  
staring at where his fingers couldn't loosen from their crooked nature. The fear of that moment  
when he was dragged out of the Rover made them stiff.

"Petal?" Harry is asking from the front seat, looking concerned as Edward peered back through the  
rear-view mirror.

"Fine." Louis swallowed thickly and answered, hiding his hands under his blanket.  
Harry leaned over and whispered in Edward's ear. Edward nodded and pulled over to the side  
yellow lane. "Bad dream again?"

Louis nods and hears Harry jump off, shutting his door and getting in the back with him. He's so  
appreciative of the gesture because he doesn't think he can fall asleep alone now after that.  
"Sleep now, petal." Harry turns Louis around to tuck him in against his chest. "You're safe, baby. It  
was just a nightmare."

Edward starts driving again but he keeps an eye on them in the back-seat, chewing up his lip as he  
worries himself. He doesn't want Louis going back to the state he was in for two weeks. He won't  
survive the loss again and he also doubts Louis will have the strength to come back from it.

"Can't sleep?" Harry smelt like Old Spice and nicotine but it reminded Louis that this is real, this is  
safe. 

"No." Louis exercised his fingers, picking at the threads of Harry's shirt. "I'm not tired anymore."  
"You have to sleep, petal." Harry rubbed Louis' back comfortingly.

"I don't like the silence." Louis mumbled. "It makes me think."

"Okay." Harry thinks of a solution while he throws the blanket over them both. "Let's listen to some  
music then."

He takes out his iPod from the back of Edward's seat and puts one earphone on Louis, the other on  
himself. Random songs start to play and the first one up is something by The Weeknd. Louis  
immediately brightens when he laughs. It's a good sign.

"Sleep, baby. I'll be right here to protect you."

Blue eyes on a feathery head tilted backward to look at Harry. "You promise?"

Harry smiled reassuringly and cuddled with his petal. "I promise, petal. I promise."


	30. Chapter Thirty

***NARRATOR'S POV***

"Is he sleeping?" Edward asks distractedly over his shoulder.

Harry, who was fairly comfortable serving as a personal body pillow for Louis, can't fall asleep  
because he's worried that he won't be up when he needs to be. If Louis had another nightmare, he  
needed to be awake to take care of him.

"Yeah." Harry rolls his head to the side, almost off the seat. "He's sleeping again."

"Do we need anything? That-" Edward points to a gas station just before the toll point. "-is the last  
thing we'll see for five hours."

"We don't need anything." Harry clears his throat and shifts with Louis when the boy shuffles  
closer, seeking the warmth of another person.

"What's he doing?"

Edward could hear the movement and always wanted to know what their petal was doing, how he  
did it and why. It's his compulsion, his own personal obligation that tied him to Louis because he  
simply _had to know_ everything concerning the boy he loved so much.

"Feelin' restless, I think. He's still asleep." Harry is kind enough inform Edward who will risk their  
lives to look over in the back-seat if he hadn't told him.

"He hasn't been sleeping well." Edward sighs as he moves from an on-ramp to the biggest freeway  
between counties.

"He slept for ten hours when we left Middleston." Harry reminds him, curling his arm around Louis'  
shoulders and holding him extra close.

"Yes and that's the last peaceful sleep he had." His older brother replies, soft in volume so as not to  
disturb their petal. "We should be taking him up to our cabin."

Harry immediately tenses over and removes the earphones from the hiding place between the  
blankets to place it in Louis' ears. He can't take a chance. That's an awful part of their history and he  
can't have his precious petal knowing one bit about it. Not even the Madhouse criminal records  
have it.

"We boarded that place up, Edward." Harry frowns at his sibling who is driving. "You and I  
promised to never go back there."

"I don't remember making such a promise, Harry."

Harry's blood started to boil but not because of his brother but because he hoped strongly that the lie  
about the cabin would work. That place is his personal Hell and sanctuary, he hates it as much as he  
craves to be back in it. Such a thing can't happen again or he'll never recover.

"We're not going there." He says with a strict sense of moral finality. "We can't risk it."

"It's the ideal place for him and you know it."

Their cabin - still leased under their family name - stood as a strong shack construction in the  
middle of the wilderness. It was safe enough to not have lurking predators outside maybe a few  
wolves at night, and resourceful enough to have does and deer everyday.

It really was any nature-lovers ideal hangout as it was constructed on a lake's dock, the water  
always healthy blue with animals in and around to create the perfect scenery. Harry almost regrets  
the fact that they ruined it for any of those nature-lovers by building a cellar, and then filling that  
cellar with morbid equipment.

They took lots of people up there - close to two dozen - during vacations and weekends from the  
time they were of age and learning to polish their talent for thirsting after blood. The kill was  
always the best up there in their quaint little cabin.

The cabin with its flowering tree companion is also why Louis is called petal. Every fall when the  
leaves fell, this beautiful tree would drop petals onto the cabin's roof. They were the lightest pink  
with the softest texture.

"No." Harry shakes his head, fighting what anger bubbled beneath the surface. "_No_ we are  
not going back there."

Edward's audible sigh got him through the freeway's toll gate and mark three hours left of their  
journey until the next pit-stop: a mall just outside Dynasville. "You're right. I'm sorry, brother."

Harry settled himself and calmed his nerves. The rapid fire within him soothed itself into extinction  
and eventually he was back to paying attention to their petal. It's like their conversation never  
happened and Edward never brought up the most horrendous part of their past. Sometimes his  
madness was so useful.

"Can I sleep now too?" Harry's voice carried to Edward's ears, snapping him out of his memories  
about the cabin.

"Yeah." Edward cleared his throat and lessened his weight on the accelerator. "Yeah you can. I'll  
wake you both up when we're at the mall."

Yawning, Harry closed his eyes and wrapped Louis up in his arms where he's safest and most  
comfortable. His sleep took over while the car ride got more soothing for them both. Edward sat  
more stiffly in his driver's seat but he'd figure out a way to get past his memories of their cabin that  
he hasn't seen in five years.

It was a distant memory for Harry, one that will never leave him alone in the form of background  
images from his dreams. Edward asked himself why he had a harder time letting go but no  
conclusive response was granted. He sat, driving blindly down a freeway with half a tank of petrol,  
looking out the window when the turn-off that would lead them towards the cabin came his way. He  
thought of Harry and didn't turn into it, when his hands were ready to deceive them both.

"I can't do this." He told the lifeless vehicle, lying to himself to ease his worry made he made a Uturn.

* * * * *

Harry woke up before Louis did and didn't lift his head anymore than was needed to admire his  
petal's dozing form. Louis always had his mouth a little open where he breathed, his worries gone  
like they never lived and his shoulders curled inward to protect his chest.

If Harry were to - out of _necessity_ \- wrap his arm around Louis' slim waist, the boy would  
raise his head a little and fit himself against Harry like a puzzle piece. The fit wasn't ideal all the  
time; the times when Edward wasn't there.

"Sweet petal." Harry kissed Louis' forehead and his fingers traced the scarred tissue at the base of  
Louis' spine, watching him wince in his sleep.

He couldn't hear the soothing purr of the Rover's engine and frowned, turning onto his back to crane  
his neck in the direction of Edward's seat. His brother wasn't seated by the wheel anymore and the  
door was left open.

"Louis." Harry panicked when he saw _just a glimpse_ of the ground outside, covered in light  
pink petals. "Petal, wake up!"

Louis was annoyed when he was shaken awake by Harry's urgency, getting to look into boldly  
stricken green eyes the exact moment that he opens his with a soft sniffle. "What-"

"I need you awake now, baby." Harry opens his door and jumps down, Louis still disorientated.  
"Louis?"

"I'm okay." Louis spoke from where his face is smashed into the pillow they shared. "I'm awake."

Harry knows Louis and today - right now - is not the time to entertain any cute tendencies. He grabs  
the pillow so Louis doesn't fall asleep again and makes him look up.

"Harry-" Louis has a murderous glare set amidst his scowl.

"Shh." Harry listened to the sparrow birds singing and bushes rustle with the movement of hooves,  
grinding his jaws together. "Stay in the car, okay? Do _not_ come out. Not for me, not for  
Edward. Understand?"

Louis seemed to grasp the idea that their situation was pretty serious and looked up at the  
surroundings. It was so beautiful with the smell of a salt lake in the air, wild animals doing their  
own thing and a cabin that's absolutely perfect for getaways. Yes it resembles a well-built shack but  
Louis thought it to be darling.

"Where are we?" Louis rubbed his itchy eye with the ball of his palm, the other hand gripping his  
blanket.

"Somewhere I don't want us to be." Harry closes the door before Louis can respond to the fuming  
blades of black flames in his eyes. 

Harry makes his way to the driver's side and enables the central locking, removing the key right  
after to double check from the outside. Louis sits up straight in his seat with a heavy chest and  
racing heart, made paranoid by Harry moments ago.

He watches Harry as the man jogs down to the cabin - who it belongs to he isn't sure - and steps  
onto the porch, pausing momentarily to look up at the idle Rover. Louis thinks he's squinting to see  
him but he can't be sure, his yawn making his own eyes water.

"Edward!" Harry was furious and he was going to prove it as soon as he laid eyes on his stupid,  
stupid brother. "Where the fuck are you?!"

Harry knew where he'd be but he didn't want to go down there, didn't want to be away from the  
windows that he could monitor Louis with. Bad things happen here and it isn't all because of them.  
Sometimes awful things happen to wonderful people and homicide isn't to blame.

The land this cabin was built on is older than their family line and nothing was as it seemed on the  
outside. Ever. Harry's witnessed phantom movements and heard people's footsteps when he was  
alone. Like the corner of their house that should be _left alone_, this place held energy far  
greater than what a person can handle sanely.

"Edward!" Harry's voice rose to a high screech when he looked down at the cellar door.  
Their walls were the same except the wood was rotting, furniture carved from pure oak.

"Come down!" Came a response but Harry hadn't seen Edward and didn't trust any voice without a  
face.

"Let me see you." Harry spoke in a regular low voice.

Nothing happened except for a squeak on the stairs leading to the black mouth of the cellar, like  
staring down into your own doom. Someone touched Harry's shoulder and he stood up with a  
shock.

"Let's go." Edward was standing there in one piece and wearing nothing creased or disorganised. He  
looked just as he did when they left the motel.

Harry hit him.

Square in the jaw with a sealed fist, Harry threw a punch that would black anyone - but Edward -  
out for an hour. Edward took it with a stumble and held his cheek with his hand when he righted  
himself, preventing a fall.

"I deserve that." He spoke huskily, exercising his bruising left facial side.

Harry was in no mood for this rubbish and shoved Edward back, looking lethal like a beast whose  
most prized possession was stolen by his beloved sibling. He stormed out of the cabin and waited  
on the porch, saying nothing, for his brother to follow.

"I had to see it." Edward tries to explain, but Harry looks everywhere besides at him. "It's been too  
long."

"Fuck you." Harry spat hatefully, black pebbles for eyes. "You should have come alone and gotten  
yourself killed but my petal doesn't deserve to know about this place."

"You're fucking superstitious."

"That's _not_ the point, you bastard!" Harry pushed Edward backward, angrier than anything  
he's experienced before. "If you're suicidal, do it another way."

Harry turned on his heel and abandon his brother's bewildered expression, glancing up the pathway  
to the Rover. Squinting against the sunlight peeking through breezy treetops, Harry's heart  
plummeted when the back-seat was empty.

"Louis." He ran towards the vehicle like a lunatic, kicking dirt and stone to get there faster.  
"Where is he?" Edward pulled on the door handle, mind foggy with worry over Louis and hate for  
himself.

"Fuck! Louis!" Harry got the door open but the seat really was empty and he dropped everything  
outside to check thoroughly.

Nobody ever finds something they've lost in these parts of the woods. Harry sunk to the ground  
feeling frustrated and terrified, holding his head in his hands and wanting to beat his brother to a  
pulp.

Edward did circles around the SUV, stepping a little into the tree line and searching desperately. He  
shouted at the trees like they were mocking him, a man with no power over them. "Give him back!"

"It's your fault." Harry has red eyes, straining as he couldn't stop staring at the trees. "When we  
leave with petal, you're never touching him again."

"Brother-"

"Fuck off. You're not my brother." Harry stood up and walked back down to the cabin, not sparing a  
glance at Edward.

Edward agrees with him. He doubts Louis will want to see him after this. He doubts he'll make it to  
look Louis in the eye after this.

* * * * *

Louis sat in the back-seat of the Rover behind Edward's driving seat with his feet up and using the  
last bar of Harry's battery. He saw them leave the cabin and Harry look his way, trying to give a  
small wave to indicate that he's awake. Instead of a wave back, Harry comes rushing towards him.  
Louis looks over his shoulder and there's no threatening other person so was he running?  
The moment Harry tried yanking the door open Louis was lost in confusion. He motioned to the  
man that he's okay and hasn't moved but Edward nor him seem to understand.

"Harry?" Louis puts his hand on the glass. "What's wrong?"

Harry gets in and starts throwing things around, Louis moving to the far corner to stay out of harm's  
way.

"Harry!" He hugs his knees, frightened by this behaviour of the twins. "Stop it!"

It's like they can't see him.

He reaches out when Harry's just about looking right at him but seeing nothing resembling him. His  
hand doesn't touch Harry because the man falls to the ground with a pained cry. Louis crawls to the  
closest end of the seat and watches in petrified awe.

"It's your fault." Harry told Edward after an inspection of the trees was made. "You're not my  
brother."

Louis gasped and covered his mouth. Why would Harry say that? Why was Edward letting him? He  
didn't understand. Why couldn't they see him? Looking around him at the trees and lake and cabin,  
they all seemed to have lives of their own.

_What is this place?_

* * * * *

Harry re-enters the cabin he shared with Edward during rendezvous he hopes to never think of  
again, feeling like and wanting the ground to swallow him whole. His eyes burned where he felt  
tears break through, very little hope present in his empty heart.

_His petal._

He knows it isn't Edward's fault. He knows exactly how convincing this place can be and had to say  
all those nasty things to hurry along the process of leaving. If he got Edward and himself with Louis  
out, there's every possible chance left that they'd never remember what happened. It's how this piece  
of a demon's lair worked.

You come, and you only leave if it wants you to. The illusions are misleading and dangerous. Never  
spend a night here if you want to get out.

The cellar door is still wide open, thrown back on its hinges and leaving down into black matter.  
Only two narrow steps were visible from his vantage point, the rest disappearing below the  
darkness.

"Come down!" This time the voice spoke, it was Louis'.


	31. Chapter Thirty- One

_Lips so good, I forget my name. I swear I could give you everything._

***NARRATOR'S POV***

"Louis' not answering his phone." Niall complained, dumping the device of his own onto the bed  
and crossing the room to their hotel room window.

Liam stood against the open window without a shirt on, letting the world get a glimpse of him in  
just really low-hanging grey slack. "His phone was taken as evidence, I believe."

"Evidence?" Niall slots himself under Liam's strong arm and sighs. He's always so comfortable  
here.

"From his mother's crime scene." Answered Liam, turning away from the window. "Last I  
remember, he doesn't have one right now."

"He's probably using one of the twins'." Niall supposes, the tranquillity of their little abode still  
maintained.

Zayn was asleep on the twin bed, on his front and snoring very softly. It's been approximately  
eighteenth months since he had a good night's sleep. It's been eighteen months since he felt safe  
enough to fall asleep.

"No one has their number." Liam shuts down Niall's hope before he can even ask. "I don't think  
even Louis did."

"Maybe he'll call." Niall reassures himself by rubbing his palm up and down Liam's chest. "I haven't  
seen him in _days._"

"Maybe they went somewhere?" Liam's face contorts even as he thinks of the possibility. "You don't  
think they....-"

"No." Niall shakes his head adamantly. "They'd never hurt him."

"Yeah you're right." Liam plants a kiss on the top of Niall's head. "Might just gut us all in our sleep  
but they'd never hurt a hair on his head."

"It's sad how true that is." Niall almost laughs. "You know he's the luckiest of us all, right?"  
"How so?"

Niall ticked them off on his fingers as he spoke. "He's in love. Those two maniacs love him. He's  
doing his country a _service_ by keeping them happy. Those bastards are so shady and they  
probably tell him every little thing. Not to mention-" Niall's dark eyebrows do an indecent wiggle.  
"-the sex."

Liam scoffs and squeezes Niall's countdown. "The _sex_ can't be half as amazing as-"

"They're both crazy, Liam." Niall pokes Liam's chest. "They probably go at it like freakin' rabbits."

"Or they don't know how to even get it up."

"You really think that?" Niall teases. "I told you he's the luckiest bastard to ever walk the Earth."

"I-" Liam tilts Niall's head up close to his. "-disagree."

  
* * * * *  


**The cellar door is still wide open, thrown back on its hinges and leaving down into black matter.  
Only two narrow steps were visible from his vantage point, the rest disappearing below the  
darkness.**

**"Come down!" This time the voice spoke, it was Louis'.**

"Get in the car." Edward is standing the doorway, managing to look formidable even with a  
blackening jaw. "Now."

"What? No!" Harry stands up in front of the cellar with his arms crossed. "We have to find Lou."

"He's not _in_ here." Edward has to speak through gritted teeth because exercising the  
movement of his nearly caved-in jaw was _excruciating._

"Fuck it. We're not leaving, Edward!"

Harry turned to look at the cellar again, down into its depths, so he didn't have to face his two-faced  
twin. He's staring down into the pit and many sounds, dozens of voices, start to fill his head. He can  
hear individual words as fleeting thoughts, some reminders. All hushed whispers and ultra sweet  
voices.

They made his eyes get wider, taking more into his peripheral as he stared emptily. It was  
frightening how they seemed to know how to lure him in.

Edward sighed, aware of what he's got to do to drag Harry out of here. There's a porcelain vase set  
on the table they'd used for almost everything besides meals, and he picks it up. The white colour is  
polluted with rapid fungus growth but it's still heavy enough to serve his purpose.

"Think of it as revenge." He said to Harry's back as he hit him with the ornament, hard enough to  
hear a sickening crack before his brother collapses.

Everything goes still for a moment as Harry's head rolls to the side with his eyelids still a little  
open. Even the aura of energy, cursed or not, didn't understand why a brother would do this. It was  
Edward's duty to protect his little brother and this is how he was going to do it.

The cabin got into everyone's minds and ruined it. Chewed you up inside and spat you out, doing it  
over and over until you're hardly recognisable as a living being anymore.

Harry would fold his resistance to whatever he was hearing in that cellar and Edward knew it. He  
had to be brutal about it but Harry would understand after they've gotten out of here.

He could already feel something clawing its way into his brain, wanting to overrule and dominate it.  
Harry's body was heavy dead weight and Edward struggled to get him up. With a moment spent  
straightening himself, Edward moved forward and out of the cabin with Harry's arm over his  
shoulders.

The Rover had an open back-seat door and he could smile when he saw the blanket no longer on the  
floor like when Harry had thrown it on the ground. He knew Louis was there but he had to be subtle  
about it. Evil doesn't like to be cheated.

Edward dumped Harry in the back-seat without caution and closed the gaping doors, getting in the  
driver's seat and kicking the Rover into reverse. He didn't bother with a U-turn and looked over his  
seat as he put the SUV in gear and accelerated backwards up the pathway.

The freeway came into view and Edward's smile got broader, finally braking and pulling onto the  
street where other cars travelled. The walkway that led to the seemed to close on its own, blocking  
anyone who wasn't welcome. This place isn't theirs anymore, Edward would make sure of it.

An additional weight was lifted after the sixth tree flew past. Edward physically felt lighter as his  
mind eased and shoulders relaxed. Like thorns from cotton wool the claws and talons of that place  
that pre-existed on him and his brother simply vanished.

"You hit him?!" Louis' shriek made Edward laugh, hearing his petal's frantic voice bringing  
unimaginable happiness to the older male.

Louis was there, in the seat he never moved from all of a sudden as the cloak of a masterly illusion  
lifted. Harry was still unconscious on the black leather, Louis worrying over him.

"Edward!" Louis' eyes were wide and troubled, checking what he could to ensure Harry was still  
alive.

"He's fine, petal." Edward came to a bridge that was constructed over a landmark damn, with green  
water that sparkled like something else Louis knew.

He pulled over onto the red slow-moving lane and got out, moving around the back to open Louis'  
door. The boy looked at him apprehensively but they'd just gotten out of the place Edward couldn't  
escape alone and he wants to celebrate.

Louis was wrapped around him in no time, standing on the freeway's last lane with puffy cheeks  
and deep breaths. He didn't understand any of what happened at that place in the woods and he's  
been through enough traces of supernatural elements to dare ask.

"You're okay, petal?" Edward closed his eyes and buried his face in Louis' neck, swinging a little  
from left to right.

"Y-Yeah." Louis hiccuped, fingers tangled in Edward's knotless hair and his elbows resting on the  
man's shoulders. "Where did you take me? Why couldn't I-"

Cars whizzed by them, unaware of the things they knew and each other's stories. They drove by on  
their way towards or away from something, someone. All with personal horrors of their own.  
Edward opened his eyes when he felt close to tipping over, falling back against the Rover so he  
doesn't rely on himself.

"Don't." Edward pushed Louis' hair back by framing the side of his face, brushing over the softest  
skin and committing the most brilliant blue eyes to memory. "Don't remember that place."

"Edward." Louis took Edward's hand and slid his fingers between the gaps of the man's. "Edward,  
tell me."

Two minutes ago Louis didn't want to know, mentally checking himself to make sure. Right now he  
finds himself asking anyway, the primal need to know everything that could go _horribly  
wrong_ in his life coming to the forefront of his mind. His instinct to hide was clouded over.

"It's something we need to forget." Edward pleaded earnestly, dam green boring into ocean blue.  
"When Harry wakes up, he's not going to remember that place. Don't tell him."

"What?" Louis' confusion showed blatantly on his features. "Why won't he remember?"

"Because he never does. Never did." Edward answers cryptically. "It's best for him."

If any one person knew half the things that went on in that cabin, they'd never find it in their heart  
to forgive. Sin didn't cover it and the devil's work was a poor adjective. Some things are meant to  
remain secrets.

"I won't say anything." Louis pulled Edward back to him and held on with all the strength he  
possessed. "I love you. I'll forget it if you want me to."

Breathing out a gush of relief, Edward kisses Louis' clavicle and wastes a moment or two getting in  
as much of the boy's calm scent as he could. Louis smelt like lavender and old perfume but was  
easily the twins' favourite thing to smell.

"Thank you, petal." Edward rubbed Louis' back all the way down at the base, lessening any  
pressure. "I love you, petal."

"I know." Louis heard himself say, feeling lighter after promising Edward that he did know how  
much the man adored him.

Smiling without reservations, Edward transfers Louis to the highly risen back-seat again. "Take care  
of my brother. Don't let him wake up alone."

  
* * * * *  


"So, I dug these up from some ancient archives before I even got in my car to drive down here."  
Zayn sat on the unmade hotel bed with Niall on his lap, hooking his chin over the blond's shoulder  
as Liam picked up the files he spread out.

"Really? Even I couldn't pull these." Liam spoke in awe of the unsolved murder case file Zayn had  
obtained.

"Well I didn't exactly do it the conventional way." Zayn smirked knowingly at his fellow officer,  
Niall not caring for more than the gruesome photos splayed out on their bed.

He isn't supposed to be seeing them but nobody in the room truly cared. Flipping through the glossy  
images, Niall frowns at the gory ones of split-open stomachs and intestines pouring out onto cold  
tar. What a horrible way to see the world for the last time. He skips the ones that could make him  
throw up their room service breakfast, like a _child_ bearing the Glasgow smile.

"These aren't solved?" Niall watched Liam read pink and blue slips of paper in fascination.

"No, ducky." Zayn replied.

He placed his face where he knew it was warmest in Niall's shoulder junction. His ribs were  
extremely tender and he found himself wincing, pulling a pillow up to prop that sore region up.  
Liam looked like a child on Christmas morning in a very wealthy family. "And they're _all_  
from the Madhouse or Middleston."

"This town is shady." Zayn fell back onto the bed, Niall still browsing photographs. "If your friend,  
Niall, skipped town it's the best decision he could have made."

"That would have been wise-" Liam agreed, at last looking up at them. "-if he hadn't taken the  
causes for all the town's problems with him."

  
* * * * *  


Harry woke up after they'd passed the mall, not having stopped for anything because Louis just  
wanted to get to Dynasville without another disruption. He sat in the back with Harry's head in his  
lap, neatening out those unruly chocolate curls with each sweep of his fingers. The scenery blurred  
as Edward exceeded the speed limit with no cameras to reprimand him for it.

The pre-Dynasville shopping complex was a beautiful one all made of glass at the entrance where  
you pay to park. It's the kind of mall you where pay people to take things to your car, get cardboard  
bags for the smallest thing and there weren't any chain stores.

"Where's the most influential place you've been?" Louis filled the pregnant silence with his voice,  
asking the question as the mall turned into a field of flowers.

Edward looked at him through the reflection on the mirror and smirked. "Our parents had a  
fundraiser a year before the Madhouse. Every wealthy person was there."

This information - and mention of the twins' _parents_ \- made Louis turn his head. "What kind  
of fundraiser?"

Edward chuckled at the question, his smugness coming from a private joke. "Gun control."

Louis nodded, licking his chapped lips and grazing the lump on Harry's head where it would turn  
purple and blue. "You've never used guns."

"Yes but the implication of crime control amused Harry and I very, very much." Edward does that  
thing again where he sits back and drives with one hand. "How did you know we didn't use guns,  
petal?"

"I was one of the two people allowed to read your files." Louis spoke a little softer, brushing his  
thumb over Harry's racing pulse.

Edward looked at him when Louis wouldn't notice and went a little rigidly cold inside. Their petal  
knew all about what they did before him. Why he stayed, is beyond him now. Edward, had the roles  
been reversed, would have left Middleston to get away from people like him and Harry.  
He does know that Louis tried. He's aware of Louis' phone call to his father and the accident that  
followed, landing him in the mud on the 'stay or go' situation. Edward's never been more grateful  
for a tragedy.

"What happened to your face?" Louis has been especially close to it but only noticed the major  
swelling and blackening skin now. He looked baffled and disgruntled.

"Harry hit me." Edward explained, flexing his lower jaw and flinching at a sudden spoke of pain. "I  
deserved it, I would say."

"What is _wrong_ with you two?" Louis' eyes bulge out of their sockets. "You've got to stop  
hitting each other!"

"We do not just abuse one another for no reason, petal." Edward laughed at the windscreen,  
overtaking a white Isuzu.

"Ugh." Louis groaned, feeling Harry's first stirring.

Louis knows the place in the woods they conveniently ended up in was not somewhere the  
conventional family would have a picnic. Not because Edward told him anything but rather after  
being exposed to what he's been, his central nervous system _knows_.

"These bruises are the reasons why you should stop thinking about that place." Edward said,  
sounding curt and dismissive. "Right now, petal."

"Sorry." Louis bit his lip and focused back on Harry, who was slowly returning to the land of the  
living. "What do I tell him?"

"He won't want to know."

Harry ended that conversation in its tracks by slowly blinking awake, staring up at Louis with fresh  
eyes after a six hour sleep. He smiled broadly all of a sudden and his dimples popped up which  
made Louis smile too. Nobody can resist them when Harry used them as weapons.

"Hi there." Louis bent and shot right back up when the burn of a healing cigarette burn on his spine  
got to be too much.

Harry knew what made him do that and was unaffected by it. "Did you miss me, petal?"

Louis will always admit that Harry, his younger boyfriend, is the very definition of adorable when  
he chooses to be. Harry can flip the switch from brooding and smouldering to cute and dapper  
within a moment's notice.

"I did." Louis indulged him, letting Harry play with his fingers on his hard chest.

"I missed you too."

Harry buried his face in Louis' mega-soft tummy, closing his eyes and nuzzling the sweet smelling  
skin. He lifted Louis' shirt a little when the article became a hindrance, wanting to have skin-onskin   
contact. His cold fingers gripped Louis' hip, thumbing over the bone he could feel through the  
skin.

"Petal." Harry examines Louis' pudge with his mouth, at the perfect level to do so. "Petal, you smell  
good."

"Thank you." Louis giggled, holding Harry's hair back to watch what he's doing to his skin.

For now, it's just a few kisses and nips with blunt teeth. Harry holds onto Louis tightly, his physical  
body knowing that they're always in danger of losing him. Louis gasped when Harry licked a small  
patch of skin for no reason other than having his tongue on Louis' body made him happy.

"What are you doing?" Louis enquired when Harry's face is pressed into his thighs, breathing  
evenly against the pillows of flesh.

"You're better than a pillow." Harry says, although parting his jaws and biting Louis' thigh can't be  
part of his pillow ritual.

It doesn't catch Louis off-guard anymore to see either of the Styles brothers doing something  
strange. He can feel where Harry's mouth is stretched as wide as it will go to latch onto his left leg  
with his teeth. There's really no point to this but maybe there is to Harry and Louis will tolerate the  
saliva slowly creeping onto his pants for that.

"You've told me that before." Louis harmlessly pokes Harry's cheek, getting bitten a little harder.

"He's a biter sometimes." Edward explains, having just noticed the position Louis' in. "Either me or  
you."

"He bites you?" Louis asks, feeling the dampness of sweat on Harry's back where his shirt rode up.

"Regularly." Edward seems to have gotten them into an area busier than the open roads, with street  
robots and houses starting to appear. "It's not a fetish or anything. He just likes to when he's feeling  
a certain way."

Louis watches Harry behave like he can't hear them. Harry groans when he stops playing with his  
hair or ceases rubbing his muscular back. When he did that the first time, Louis retaliated to a  
harsher bite by pinching Harry's ass. It made the man grumble and get blocked behind his hair.

"Is that certain way childish?" Louis asks, overly fond of how Harry's behaving. It's endearing and  
sweet to have Harry squashed up on a seat with him, limbs spilling over, and being all clingy.

"Probably." Edward made a left turn and the Dynasville town board came up. "We're here, petal."

Dynasville came into view and Louis felt blown away by such a simple but intricate town. The  
streets were hardly straight and the buildings were all short, houses all pastel colours with neat  
gardens. It's a smaller town than Middleston and had nearly no drama. 

Farms sat on the outside of the town to all cardinal points. Fields and fields of the greenest grass in  
front of brown mountain peaks, laden with livestock and barn houses or organic vegetation. Louis'  
never been so in love with a place before. This town had to be a dream with how iconic it looked,  
yet hardly anyone knew it existed.

"Harry." Louis tugged on a dark ringlet to get the man's attention. "Harry, look."

Begrudgingly Harry lifted his head from Louis' thigh and looked out the window, smiling at the  
things he saw for Louis' entertainment before returning to the boy's thighs. Louis sighed and left  
him to go, not wincing at all when Harry placed his mouth where it was before.

"Do you still want to stay in a dingy old motel, petal?" Edward interrupted Louis' staring.

"No." Louis shook his head and Harry shifted on the seat, folding his long legs up to fit. "Let's find  
somewhere new."

Edward was happy with this decision and began driving in the direction of a nearby hotel. It was a  
decent one without extravagance and luxury which is what Louis wanted, but had proper hot water  
and towels like he did. Harry didn't really care where they stayed because he just never wanted to be  
separated from his petal.

"I'm not your chew toy." Louis tells Harry when the latter starts palpating his knee, turning his face  
to nibble on the pudge again.

"Don't tell him that. Makes it worse." Edward says from the front, pulling up the hand brake when  
he finally parks for the last time.

Indeed it did too because seconds later Louis not only had the nibbling, but the irritable gnawing of  
Harry's teeth. They weren't going to do more than leave a few red marks but still.

"Come on, Harry." Louis threads his fingers through Harry's hair and yanks. "We gotta go now."

Harry is not happy about this but he pretends to be and pulls Louis' shirt down to cover the artwork  
he left there. Nobody else deserves to see it. Maybe he'll show it Edward later. _Maybe._  
The hotel was as tall as a skyscraper Louis saw in London once, with a giant clock at the top  
signalling the top and glass walls all around. Edward walked in first while he and Harry and held  
back, stretching their legs for a bit. Louis was trying to keep Harry away from his neck but the job  
was futile because no one was around and Harry found a way to pin him against the car.

"Harry." Louis warned, wrists pressing into a dirty steel door.

Harry's teeth sunk into the skin of Louis' throat beside his brother's permanent scar and crowded a  
now pliant Louis in. He lifted the boy's legs off the ground and pressed their hips together,  
eliminating all gaps and spaces.

"Petal." Harry groaned, sounding reverent and _wanting_ all in the same gravely tone. "My  
petal."

Louis could roll his eyes at how the twins liked to remind him how much he was theirs. He adored  
that facet of their relationship though. His thoughts are strangled when Harry's pants start to tighten   
and Louis can feel the bulge between his legs. It's a surprise because he's not doing a damn thing to  
arouse anyone.

With his fingers in Harry's hair, gripping it inexplicably tighter every minute, Louis closed his eyes  
and moaned when his loving captor did a small grind.

Even though the little sheltered parking lot they were in was deserted save for them, Louis didn't  
want to take this too far when the risk of a family from a neighbouring town coming out is great.

"You're my baby, petal." Harry frowned when Louis wasn't looking at him. "Pay attention to me."

"I'm here, Daddy." Louis spoke it casually now, making Harry proud. "Just don't want other people  
being here too."

Harry shook his head. "Don't care, petal. Gonna fuck my baby."

Louis inhaled sharply upon hearing that, choking on something he took in. He held his head back  
when Harry started peppering kisses on his neck, making his heart rate pick up. It thumped and  
thrummed, scraping the inner walls of his blood vessels.

When Louis arched his back, Harry started sucking on his clavicle. "Daddy. Daddy, stop."

Someone was coming and it wasn't Edward. Those footsteps were feminine by the heels clicking the  
ground and the cheers of little kids. The urgency of Louis' voice made Harry panic and nearly drop  
Louis when he backed away.

"Petal." Harry was suddenly very, deeply sad when he could no longer touch Louis.

The mother and her children walked by them without even looking their way. If only she knew what  
Louis sacrificed for her ignorance. Harry came back to him the second the family disappeared,  
fitting his body against Louis'. He did a different thing this type by raising Louis' shirt in the  
darkness of their corner, jerking Louis' entire body up higher so his mouth was able to connect with  
his nipple.

"Harry!" Louis' shout echoed through the parking lot, his body tensing from the core outward.

Harry did nothing besides suckle on the dusky nub as a way to calm himself down. The worry got to  
him and this felt good to his frayed nerves. Louis was sensitive but not enough to push Louis away.  
They looked so sloppy and all over each other at the moment.

A throat clearing, one that belonged to Edward, wasn't enough to pull Harry away. Not this time.  
"If and when you're done." Edward held up two silver room keys. "I'd like to get some sleep."

Louis nodded helplessly and Harry pulled off him very slowly, loving the way the skin had turned  
so _pink._ Quietly, Harry put Louis' shirt back in place and pecks his forehead with a small  
smile. Huffing, Louis pushes him away and Edward chuckles at Harry's wounded animal noise.  
They manage to get to their room with minimal whining from Harry. Louis was cross with him but  
too damn tired to handle it now. Harry dropped their bags many a time to aid Louis' with him but no  
efforts were rewarded. Edward was highly amused by it all and watched as Harry followed Louis  
onto one of the two beds like a puppy.

"He won't give up." Edward strips off his shirt and locks the door, dumping his belongings on the  
other bed that nobody will use.

Louis sighed and let Harry rest on top of him, not really mad at him anymore. He got his socks and  
pants removed by Edward because the weight of another man kept him from doing it himself.  
"Thank you." Louis said softly when Edward collapsed onto the bed beside him.

Edward turned to him and watched Harry easily fall asleep on Louis' tummy, cushioned by one leg  
on either side of him. "And thank you."

Louis knew what for and he smiled shyly, closing his eyes when Edward pressed a kiss onto his  
forehead.

  
* * * * *  


"Do you think we can get a pumpkin? I've always wanted to carve one." Louis asked, stepping out  
of the bathroom in a towel and with wet hair that turned glossy under direct light.

Harry stepped out after him with a towel turban on his head and one navy towel around his waist.  
He was a little more independent now in the sense that he didn't follow Louis around except when  
he wasn't in his line of sight. Edward didn't judge him because the case was pretty much the same  
with him.

"We can." Edward sat on the bed, hating on the current television show he's watching.

"Edward carves pumpkins best." Harry contributes, on Louis' case about putting on minimal  
clothing.

"I'm not the best." Edward sat up and drew the curtains. "I just do it better than him."

"True." Harry shrugged, approving Louis' choice of _panties_ \- his favourite navy blue ones -  
and a T-shirt too large to be legal on him.

"I think there's a storm coming." Edward massages his jaw with his cold fingers, the ache becoming  
a dull but annoying sensation. "It's definitely too dark for just four in the afternoon."

"Probably then." Louis seated himself on Edward's hips when the man laid down on the bed again.  
"Edward why is he behaving like this?"

Harry was a safe distance away when Louis asked, biting his lip because he was a little concerned.  
He knows Harry's as crazy as they're going to come but never has his behaviour based on baby-like  
tendencies lasted this long.

"He wasn't in a happy place in the woods." Edward rubs Louis' soft hips, admiring all the faint  
marks scattered across the skin. "He's trying to get back to normal."

"Is it normal for him?"

"Yes. If anything makes him very angry or very uncomfortable, he does this right after to cope."  
Louis could coo at the explanation. Harry did it to feel loved and he's had a hand in that which made  
Louis all the more pleased to be their petal. He looked over his shoulder at the old time television  
show Edward was watching and his mouth twisted.

"I hate this show." Louis added to the list of mental things Edward noted that made him perfect.  
Harry walked back into the room already looking more like his regular self, passing Louis a wink  
on his way to the phone to dial the kitchen for room service.

"I'm ordering." He said, pressing the three digits needed. "Edward?"

"Same as you, whatever it is."

"Lou?"

"I want chicken wings." Louis answered, a sudden hankering for it developing in his gut.  
Harry shook his head as he spoke to the woman who picked up, laying their orders out - he had  
ordered chicken pasta for himself and Edward - before hanging up.

Edward is very much still occupied with Louis' chest, kneading his behind like it's his responsibility  
and listening to Louis' pleased little noises. He'd reach up and mess Edward's flat hair to grip it  
tightly. It's when his sore back hits the cool sheets and Edward is slowly sliding his legs apart when  
Harry decides he doesn't want to be left out.

Harry grabs Louis' hips and flips him over to have eye contact, smirking at the stunned broadening  
of Louis' pupils. Their petal is on his back, sandwiched between Edward and Harry as one  
thoroughly snogged the thoughts out of his head while the other massaged the very weak spot he  
posses between thigh and pelvis.

Harry's lips smacked against his, his arms coming up around the man's strong shoulders and raking  
his nails down the length of flexing muscle. Edward had no problem working his fingers into the  
firm stretch of skin that made Louis' heart leap and body jerk.

A part of Louis lit up from the inside when Edward's calloused thumb ran tracks up and down his  
most sensitive skin, scraping harmlessly and making his blood simmer. He lost the air in his lungs  
and Harry held his hand against his chest when Louis started to burn up.

Hips rolled against his, his clothed c*ck getting the stimulus it needs to move from semi to fully  
hard. He parts his legs further and plants his feet on the mattress, passing on the friction to Edward  
with wicked grinding. His hands push at Harry's chest and he gets the man to kneel, sitting up on  
Edward's lap moving in figure eights.

"Good boy." Edward sat up too, praising Louis as he slipped his hand under the waistband of those  
sinful navy panties.

"Daddy." Louis turned his head and parted his lips when Edward's mouth crashed furiously onto his.  
Edward's hold on his hips keeps him firmly planted over his crotch, moving him in a rhythm that  
suits them both. Louis' neck is attacked with Harry's blunt teeth, his tongue assaulted by Edward's.   
Sharp molars skim past his gums and he gasps at the prick of such vulnerable surfaces under the  
harsh treatment of Edward's mouth.

Harry's large palms clasp Louis' neck on both sides, maintaining its stiff posture as he works his lips  
across the pale skin. Louis moans and curls his hand into Harry's shirt, pulling him flat against him  
and hogging the steady satisfaction of Harry smirking against his jaw.

"Room service!" Someone knocked on their door, an employee expecting the right payment and  
decent tip.

"Fuck." Harry muttered hatefully, his fingers slipping under Louis' panties and trying to shut out the  
outside world.

It's Edward who wakes up and after planting a kiss on Louis' nape, slides off the bed to answer the  
door with his wallet in hand. Harry cages Louis in when he's given one-on-one access and continues  
his trail of kisses, moving Louis' neck to the side as he wants to give himself space.

Louis let's his head weigh down, dropping back between his loose shoulderblades. His jaw falls  
slack when Harry takes his length out, slowly pumping it in his tight grip. The cigarette burn is  
being massaged and every time Harry reaches a quarter of a full cycle, he hisses when a sharp pain  
runs up his back.

Harry suddenly hoists him up onto his knees, grip firm on Louis' thigh as he mouths at his nipple.  
Louis whimpers and guides Harry to where he wants him, dripping precome and staining his  
feminine underwear. Teeth roll his hardened nipple between them, making him want to pull away  
and offer Harry more.

"Get on your back for me, petal." Harry speaks into Louis' chest, saliva making the cool air colder.

Louis falls back and Harry chuckles at his urgency, securing Louis' body and safety by his waist.  
His head hung off the foot off the bed, blind to everything that could happen to him.

"Aren't you beautiful like that, petal." Edward came back with a tray of food but left it for later's  
attention on the lonely bed.

Louis couldn't see himself but he felt pretty riled up. His legs were bent and one on top of the other,  
his neck fallen backwards and his arms at his sides. Harry pulled the panties off him and Edward  
caught them when he tosses it aside.

Edward held the article of undergarments in his hand, stretching it between his thumb and  
forefinger. Louis watched him look at it with new eyes, skin roaring with flames where Harry  
sucked and kissed.

"I reckon he can take you." Edward told Harry, whose head shot up and gazed hungrily at the boy  
sprawled out under him. "No prep."

Louis began to panic but he knew if he relaxed that he'd handle Harry breaching his body as if he  
did get preparation. He felt Harry clamber up his body and locked his legs around the man's waist.  
Harry cupped his ass and kneaded the flesh like a pilgrim worshipping him, stretching him apart  
and making Louis want to scream.

"Wait." Edward stopped Harry just as he positioned himself after spitting on his c*ck.

"What?" Harry snapped, painfully eager to bury himself inside Louis.

Edward stood just outside the minuscule bathroom with a thin white candle, lighting it with Harry's  
lighter. "On the floor. Hands and knees."

Harry understood the look in Edward's eye before Louis did, carrying Louis and dropping him  
indelicately onto the ground. Louis cringed at the impact of his elbow on rough carpet, just  
managing to hold himself up with his bum facing the window.

"Knees apart, baby." Edward was kneeling behind him, kissing Louis' cigarette burn.

Harry was not happy about the last bit and covered the mark with his hand, adding incidental  
pressure. Louis' back dipped and he jolted back up with a hot flame touched his belly button.  
"I don't imagine you want to fall, petal." Edward put his hand over Harry's, pushing down and  
forcing Louis to whine and resist as much as he could.

A movement too low would mean Louis being burnt by the flame. Harry would never let him fall  
onto either side either. His thrill suddenly spiked as the orange flame made him sweat, lifting his  
head and being met with the sight behind him. A mirror stood in front of him, leaving with to watch  
Harry get behind him.

"Not too rough." Edward kissed Harry's forehead as an apology for touching the burn earlier.  
"That's my job."

Louis shivered and his lip bled into his mouth from how hard he bit it. Harry massaged the globes  
of Louis' bum with both hands, re-lubing himself with saliva to position himself at Louis' quivering  
and anticipating hole. He licked over the puckered entrance once, twice to be a little merciful.  
Louis' back almost gave out already, the candle being the only thing that kept him up.

He shuddered at the press of Harry's tip on his rim, adding more and more pressure until it  
penetrated him. His eyes flickered to the mirror, a helpless but pleasured sound leaving his lips.  
Harry looked back at him and his wildly blown black eyes became electric, magnetically drawing  
Louis in to drown in them.

Louis' jaw got wider and wider. Finally the muscle got so taut that a pained noise escaped him, but  
he choked on it. He reached his hand down and faltered just a bit in his posture, his fingers reaching  
down to where Harry was sliding into him. The feeling of a hot and pulsating shaft making its way  
into him past his widening rim.

Harry thrusted slow, cautious and and never lost eye contact. He put his arm back in place and it  
quivered when Harry's hips landed flushed against his. The skin got red and Harry kept pushing on  
until his balls were nestled against Louis' bum, begging for deeper.

Biting the inside of his cheek, Louis suppressed the noises creeping up his throat. He sucked his  
tummy in, hoping to keep it away from the flame. Harry didn't like that method of cheating and  
spanked Louis on his right cheek, admiring the rosy pink complexion it turned.

With an obedient mewl of consent, Louis returned to the state he's supposed to be in. The candle  
was still as tall as when Edward brought it to him and the flame grazed his clammy skin every so   
often, being just the tip it did no damage. If anything it elicited more pleasure with its heat and the  
adrenaline presented to his hormones.

For as long as he could, Louis looked into the mirror and admired the body of a man with coal black  
eyes. Those drove shivers down his spine but the visual of Harry's hips moving, his abs flexing back  
and forth in small rotations made everyone in the room groan. Louis was pushed forward when  
Harry's hard hips collided with his bum, pulled back again when Harry was done trying to tear him  
up from the inside.

Harry was perfectly suited for Louis, just like Edward was. They filled him up, together or  
independently, to a point where he feared choking but loved the prospect also. They confused him  
but they made it terribly okay. Louis moved back to meet Harry's thrusts when they started to get  
harder, faster.

His prostate was easily discovered and Louis screamed to the ceiling, nails digging into the floor  
and back curving as much as it could go. Harry grunted as he slammed into Louis and held himself  
there, grabbing the boy's hair and tugging. The pressure on his prostate was unrelenting and Louis  
felt the head of Harry's c*ck throbbing against the abused gland inside him, too deep but so perfect.  
Tears sprung to his eyes and he waited to be released. His body burned and not from the candle, the  
very little lube taking effect by creating dry strokes as Harry bucked his hips rhythmically. Louis'  
sounds got louder and he fell to his elbows, his abdomen held up clenched and away from the  
flame. Harry held his shoulder, pulling out and delivering quick and brutal impacts.

Louis' whole body rocked with it, his pleasure exceeding pain and he cried from them both. His  
orgasm threw him off and he panted. "C-Can't-"

"Shh." Harry stopped thrusting and his hands glided down Louis' thighs at the front, leaning over  
him and moving his hips shallowly.

His length stayed buried on top of Louis' prostate, groaning at how good it felt to be ruining the boy  
he loves so much. Sweaty skin and desperate noises filled their bubble, Harry's palm coming around  
to Louis' tummy to protect him from the flame. It burned to be that close to open fire but Harry bit  
down on Louis' shoulder and stiffened.

"Come, baby." Harry left patches of skin wet with spit as he openly mouthed at them. "Come for  
Daddy."

Louis couldn't bring himself to orgasm so quickly and shimmied his hips to get a bit more friction  
on his insides. At last his walls clamped down suffocatingly on Harry and they both came with  
either a shriek or really painful grip on the other.

Edward reappeared in front of Louis and crouched down low enough to look him in the eye. He  
pushed Louis' damp fringe back and framed his face, kissing him when Louis started to complain  
about sensitivity. Harry wrapped his arms around Louis and drew him back onto his lap, keeping  
their bodies joined like they're meant to be.

Breathing heavily and shallowly, Louis' head rolled onto Harry's shoulder and looked so tiny against  
him in this warm cradle. Edward put the candle to the side but left it on, his bent knees slipping  
between Harry's. 

"Petal?" Edward's voice, deep and gravely from the devil himself, interrupted Louis' process of  
almost falling asleep.

Instead he looked at Edward with hardly tired eyes, pleased to be so tightly sandwiched between the  
brothers. He leaps forward and locks his arms around Edward's neck, crashing into his lips and  
invading his mouth. The latter gave him easily, pulling Louis' legs apart and letting his shins hit the  
floor, prodding around where Harry was trapped by Louis' body.

He tasted Louis in his mouth for thirty seconds, letting the boy feel dominant for a short while.  
Their tongues moved together and Louis' smaller, pink one continuously flicked against Edward's.  
His lips swelled up and teeth clashed, Louis' fingers crooking in Edward's silky hair.

They needed air but they didn't want it. Edward had to pull away but he couldn't. Harry was content  
with kissing up Louis' back, each knob and curve. He's in awe of their petal and never wants to lose  
track of him.

"I could kiss you for the rest of my life-" Edward covered Louis' mouth with two fingers when the  
boy tried leaning forward again. "-but I need to be inside you or I might never see tomorrow."

Hearing these words, Louis offered his body up immediately. He's fine with being used as long as  
it's the twins because they never forgot about him, always blew his mind with intense pleasure. He  
kneeled and with the extra height given to him by Harry's lap, was taller than Edward.

"You need prep for this, petal." Edward stopped Louis from going near his c*ck just yet.  
Louis was not happy. He's desperate and Edward is torturing him. He suddenly shivered when warm  
come dripped out of him, around Harry's semi.

"Come here, pup." Edward put a little distance between them, and Louis slipped off Harry's erection  
to crawl over to him. He knew Edward would want him to.

"Daddy." Louis planted himself in Edward's lap, arms thrown over his shoulders and body eager.  
"Want your c*ck."

"Yeah? I know, petal." Edward nosed along Louis' throat and his hand explored where Louis was  
hot, wet and clenching. "Have to prep you for both of us."

Louis shook his head and whined. "Just you, Daddy."

Harry was glad Louis said that because not only did he need time to recover, but he had his turn  
with their lovely Louis and didn't want Edward to forfeit him. Edward was also excited by this  
thought and lowered Louis onto his back, the head of his member rubbing around the puckered rim  
of his boy. Louis' eyes were wide and attentive and he was already worked up enough to be  
breathing raggedly.

"Daddy." Louis reached over his head and gripped the legs of the table by the corner where they  
were. "Stop _teasing._"

Edward chuckled and nodded, wrapping his lips around Louis' left nipple and milking it. Louis  
gasped and his toes curled on either side of Edward's knees, finally the head of a large member  
popping inside him. He felt the pulse through the vein on the underside of Edward's length beating   
against him. Nothing but spit and Harry's come lubed the passage that Edward invaded, stretching  
Louis whether he wanted to or not.

"So good, petal." Edward propped Louis' hips up on his thighs, scraping his ass with his nails.  
"Wanna bite you, baby. Is that okay?"

Louis nodded. He didn't care from the blissful state he was in. Blood or not, he wanted every part of  
himself to be lined up with Edward's. Edward seemed to agree because he shallowly began to  
thrust, giving Louis only a taste of what he has in store.

"Gonna fuck you up, baby." Edward spoke filthily in Louis' ear. "Not gonna be able to walk when  
we're done."

An eager sound ran free from Louis and he hooked his legs over Edward's sides, jerking in time  
with the thrusts in and out of him. It felt glorious to physically be part of Edward, have the man  
hold onto the ground and pound into him like he's only something to slake lust. Louis loved feeling  
their backs moving under his fingertips as they drove him mad, loved getting bent over and just  
_taken_ because he was theirs to do it to.

His over stimulation brought on an early orgasm and Louis tried to keep it back so that Edward  
wouldn't stop. He loved this because Edward just crowded him in and fucked him with his legs  
open and mind blank. It was ecstasy everytime.

"Daddy!" He shouted into Edward's neck. "G-Gonna come, Daddy."

Edward's body rolled into Louis' and banged into his prostate viciously, wanting to maim and mark  
and claim. He wanted Louis' heart to beat like his and breathing to be times with his. He needed it,  
the raw embers of a dead flame to be ignited.

"You're Daddy's little slut, aren't you?" Edward tormented the boy, yanking his head back and  
forcing his tongue into the confines of Louis' mouth. "If you come you have to get on your knees  
for me, petal. Daddy can't come yet."

Louis nodded enthusiastically. He knows he can be greedy for the taste of Edward in his mouth  
sometimes - too often really. How could he ever deny it?

"Come then, petal." Edward held Louis' hips with both hands, thrusting vigorously without aim but  
blinding Louis with passion anyway. "You have ten seconds, petal. If you don't come then Daddy's  
gonna keep fucking you until I do."

Unable to comprehend the over stimulation that would trigger painful sensitivity in that case, Louis  
runs his hands down Edward's chest and calloused fingers roll his nipples between them. They  
pinched and elongated and pressed and pulled. Louis screamed loud enough to have a noise  
complaint when he came, white ropes coating his chest and tummy.

What brings him back so suddenly is a sudden spiral of electric pain that resonates outward from  
the left side of Louis' chest. Curiously and with a wince that becomes drowned out by a throttled  
cry, he tries to see what's furtherly being done to him.

Edward's pulled out but his mouth was over Louis' nipple again, and through blurry vision the boy  
can see a red line running longer and longer. Edward had bitten him hard enough to result in the   
puncturing of his skin. He opens his mouth to say something but it's covered by Harry's hand, his  
voice in his ear.

"Hush, baby." Harry kneeled behind him, forcing Louis to watch Edward make crimson splatters on  
his chest from where his bloodstained lips kissed him.

"H-Hurts." Louis sobs into Harry's arm, fighting the inextinguishable agony from his injured nipple.  
It was too much, making Louis feel like he's teetering on the edge of blacking out from pain alone.

"Lots of things will hurt, petal." Harry says, touching the injury and making Louis try to move  
away. "Nah uh. You're not going anywhere, petal."

It was silly to think he could handle this. The excruciating pain is hardly something he can be  
distracted from. He cries with hot, salty tears burning his cheeks and wetting his hands. Harry holds  
him up around his waist and Edward dots red ink spots all over his front.

"Learn to love it, baby." Harry whispers in his ear, voice like silk on Louis' overheated skin. "Pain is  
just like pleasure, but more arousing. Think past the hurt and you'll enjoy it."

Louis tried to bring down his body temperature, calming himself even when he just wanted to  
combust. Harry was right and he needed to learn how to enjoy the pain that will become a constant  
in their sex lives. He did push Edward off him, looking to them like a deity with blood smeared  
across his skin and untidy hair. Flushed skin with a streak of red across his chest where it still  
dripped out of his bite.

"He hasn't come yet." Harry sounded disapproving, watching Edward lick his lips and become  
contaminated with the taste of Louis. "That's not very fair, petal."

Getting up on his knees after Edward stood, Louis made no eye contact until after he felt brave  
enough. The open wound on his chest felt especially cold when the wind blew by and he took  
Edward's intimidating length in his hand to kiss the tip before engulfing the head in his mouth.  
His eyes looked up through his clumped lashes and he bobbed his head with a wet sound coming off  
it. There was a frighteningly dark look in Edward's eyes but it was kept at bay for Louis' safety. He  
pulled off to kiss and kitten lick the entire length, feeling it throb and the hard flesh twitch against  
his lips.

When he took Edward back in his mouth, his thighs parted and Harry's hands reverently ran up and  
down the pale skin. Louis felt the slit against his tongue become swollen and the bitterness of  
precome morphed into sweet come as it exploded in his mouth, Edward's hips stilling from such  
small thrusts as he emptied himself.

Louis obliged swallowed, what he couldn't immediately he pulled off to suck from skin onto his  
tongue. Edward groaned deep in his chest when Louis didn't stop until after he'd consumed every  
last drop.

"Your nipples hurt, baby?" Edward bent down to his level again, kissing Louis and stealing some of  
his own taste. "Let Harry have some."

He couldn't say no, not when a direct instruction is given to him. He's trying to be obedient, to be  
good for them. Without hesitation, Louis turned around and sat on Harry's hard, muscular thighs.   
Harry smirked at how quickly he did as told and grasped Louis' waist to inhale deeply before  
covering the raw wound with his mouth.

Louis mewled out of a sudden burst of colour but moaned from irritation because that colour was  
red. He combed through Harry's hair robotically, feeling a warm suction around his cuts where  
Edward broke skin. Blood left him and reached Harry's tongue, just a little because the puncture  
wounds weren't deep enough.

"Thank you, petal." Harry's mouth was redder than possible when he detached from Louis.  
"Up." Edward patted Louis' fleshy hip, watching the ripple of flesh and salivating. He loves biting  
Louis. Breaking through that skin drove him off the edge with excitement.

Louis got up on his knees again, breathless but nonetheless wanting from the core of his being.  
Once Edward was snug against his back, he lowered himself and felt how hard they were beneath  
him already. His own shaft was beginning to fatten up again, saying to him how much his body was  
wanton for this.

Edward supported him while Louis held onto Harry's neck, slowly getting dropped onto two c*cks  
of monster size that tore him apart. His rim stretched inexplicably and he cried out from not being  
prepped for this, shutting himself up when the hardest bit was over.

Feeling taut from the inside-out, Louis asked to wait. "W-Wait. H-Hurting."

Both brothers immediately stopped and Harry got to embrace Louis while the boy adjusted. It took  
a while for his walls to relax and stop flexing so violent as they tried to close. Louis experimentally  
took more of them in at a snail's pace, sinking down lower and lower until finally he had all of them  
inside him.

"Good, petal?" Edward kissed behind his ear, ever the sex God.

Louis nodded profusely, biting his lip and moaning as he rotated his hips. The friction was fucking  
fantastic and Harry nearly came just thinking about how tight the suction was around him. Edward  
thrusted and Louis' whole being shivered, his words fucked out of him.

"A-Again." He was done adjusting and wanted to be taken control of, so he bounced a little and  
invaded his own body with double the effort to rupture something.

Edward guided Louis' hand to his extremely low abdomen, pressing his fingers over the bump that  
displayed where they were inside him. Louis loved it so much and never took his hand off while the  
twins thrusted, feeling each movement. One by one they jabbed his prostate and at one point he  
thought it would burst open like the rest of him threatened to, but he remained intact.

"_Da-Daddy._" He had Harry's lips on his chest where he licked over the bruising cuts and  
Edward at his neck, sucking new bruises over the old ones.

He held onto the them both and tried to move his body like they did with theirs but they didn't  
appreciate it. Edward held him down firm and fucked up into him whether Harry kept up or not,  
Harry obviously going slower but adding more torture. When they both aimed at his prostate, Louis'  
throat went numb from his high-pitched wails as the deepest part of him stretched to let them in.

"So tight, petal." Harry licked the shell of his ear. "Fuck. I'm never pulling out."

Louis knew his greedy inner sex addict would allow such a thing but he feared if his body didn't get  
time to recover he might just die. The attention to his insides where they plowed into him like he  
couldn't feel their brutality made his head spin. He ached to be touched where his erection lay  
neglected but he wanted more to be pounded and be the sheath of their huge c*cks.

"I think you're bruising, petal." Edward said, his nimble fingers weaving down to feel where they're  
stretching him open. "Gotta pull out, baby."

"No!" Louis held Edward around him and refused to let go, riding them himself so he didn't lose  
one.  
"Baby, stop." Edward kissed Louis' shoulder, sounding gruff and ragged himself. "We're not gonna  
break you, petal."

"Br-Break me, Daddy." Louis wanted it. He wanted it so badly that he didn't even understand why.  
"I-I'm yours."

"No, petal." Edward held Louis still and slowly pulled out, making Louis sob from loss and friction.  
"Shh, baby. Relax."

Harry pulled out too and Louis hated them both so much. He didn't care to wipe his tears as they  
rolled freely down his face as Harry did that for him, kissing his cheeks and pushing him onto his  
front. He stared at Louis' now empty and gaping hole, able to see where he's beaten red instead of  
pink and clenching so deliciously.

Louis felt Harry's tongue on him and he keened with an arch of his beck, meeting Edward's lips on  
the uptake. The tip of a very wet muscle penetrated his wide circle of muscle and left his walls  
covered in spit. His chest throbbed where he was bitten open and his ass hurt like a bitch but he was  
so close as he grinded back on Harry's stiff tongue.

"Open your eyes, pup." Edward held Louis' face up with a whole hand wrapped around his neck,  
staring at him with ravenous black orbs.

Louis choked on air when his third climax hit him like a tidal wave. His body convulsed and he  
couldn't scream because Edward stuck his tongue down his throat, massaging the most inner folds  
of his mouth. Louis gagged from lack of air supply and meekly returned the kiss before everything  
went black.


	32. Chapter thirty-two

_When you go and I'm alone, you live in my imagination._

***NARRATOR'S POV***

Louis woke up on a bed mediocre in comfort but exceptional in warmth. He had a pillow under his  
head that he burrowed into and spread his legs a little bit more because between them burned a fire  
straight from Hell. The weight over his back came from someone - Harry - improperly positioned to  
be curled up on the small curve.

To his left, Louis saw Edward moving around in the bathroom. The morning light tore through the  
curtains and he was too exhausted to move even for deep breaths. Everything was soft and  
comfortable, lazy and a bit louder than usual because of such an early hour.

"Petal?" Edward walked into the bedroom and noticed that Louis is awake, a smile broadening his  
facial features as he slid under the covers with him.

"Hi." Louis pulled air in through his nose and draped an arm over Edward's chest, twirling his index  
finger over a small patch of hair.

"Good morning." The face of one of his lovers got extra close and Louis dared to kiss him, giggling  
when Edward returned the kiss with a moan.

Edward's head was extremely close to Louis' and the boy rested his cheek on the bulging bicep that  
presented itself for a better form of cushion. Edward kissed Louis' forehead and noted where his  
brother was sleeping so he avoided that region when he rubbed Louis' back.

"Happy Halloween." Edward smirked when Louis looked at him in innate frustration.

"Ew." He wrinkled his nose and bumped Edward's chin to fit himself under it. "I hate Halloween."

"Do you?"

"Never really had time for one but everyone else seemed to have the time to scare me." Louis  
coughed dryly and winced when the projected shock waves went straight to him very tender bum.  
"Why is my bum so sore?"

Edward's body vibrated with laughter and his arms wrapped all the more possessively around his  
petal. "It's what happens when you get a thorough dicking, pup."

With his face hidden, Louis blushed and regretted asking. When he snuggled closer however, his  
chest erupted in pain and he hissed loudly. "And what was- you _bit_ me."

Louis examined the penetrative teeth marks around his nipple, scabs over where he bled and dried  
crimson patches all over his body. Edward grazed over the pink nipple with his thumb. "You gave  
me permission."

"Hmph." Louis bit his lip when Edward didn't stop rubbing over his sensitive nub and whined when  
it got pinched between his thumb and forefinger.

"They're so sensitive, pup." Edward said in awe, watching Louis' body respond with goosebumps.

"I'm too tired." Louis complained, batting Edward's hand away from his chest. "Can we sleep for a  
few more hours?"

"Anything you want, petal." Edward pressed a kiss to Louis' hair and Harry fussed in his sleep when  
he had to grip Louis tighter.

"He's so sweet." Louis looked over his shoulder where Harry was frowning in his sleep, trying to  
maintain a hold on Louis.

"And what am I?" Edward asked in amusement.

"You-" Louis hooked his chin over Edward's shoulder. "-are the kind of person that I would have  
been told never to go near when I was younger."

"But you could go near my brother?" Edward was smirking, lewd humour evident.

"Maybe." Louis shrugs. "I would have ended up here either way."

"In our bed with a sore arse?" Edward cheekily pinched Louis' bum. "I believe so as well."

Louis gasped when the pinch made the space between the cheeks light up with blistering soreness.  
Edward noticed too but he wasn't mindful of that because he's already inspecting the bruises around  
Louis' hole with apt fingers.

"St-Stop." Louis whined, boxed in when Edward starts to _massage_ the tight muscle with his  
fingers.

"Shh." Edward doesn't stop and Louis wants to cry because it hurts enough to make him hard. "You  
want it, baby?"

Nodding, Louis bites Edward's shoulder when a long middle finger wriggles its way into him. He  
starts to quiver and pant, barely held together by Edward's strong arm over his shoulders.

"You were such a good boy last night, petal." Edward's mouth leaves wet kisses along Louis' neck.  
"Fucking bruised yourself for us. I love you so much, baby."

"L-Love you, Daddy."

Louis dug his nails into Edward's waist, jerking his hips to keep the man's finger in him. It was dry  
and he was probably going to break after one more orgasm but _it felt so good._ He couldn't  
help but want more in a matter of seconds.

Harry woke up to the most perfect sight he could possibly dream of. His brother's hand held Louis  
open while his finger plundered into him with rapid strokes. Losing the battle of curiosity, Harry  
didn't blink while he stared at the amorous conduct. 

"I never would have thought I'd wake up to this." He straightened out and crawled up to kiss Louis'  
cheek, easily gaining access to the boy's mouth when he turned his head. "Feel good with that  
finger, petal?"

Louis nodded and mewled onto his tongue, their mouths concealing one another's as Harry hungrily  
licked into his body. Harry reached out and opened one of Edward's curled fingers to join the first  
one in opening up Louis' greedy hole.

The stretch of that _hurt_ and Louis made a series of uncomfortable noises, pulling away from  
both of them to extract the fingers. He felt cut and stripped open inside, his body nowhere near  
ready to recover.

"Alright, petal. Alright." Harry calmed Louis down by petting his sides and kissing his neck.

"Did that hurt, pup?" Edward loosens one arm so Harry can put his in its place.

"Y-Yes." Louis didn't want any hands near his behind now. He kept his eyes closed and with the  
sensation of kisses on his hips, fell asleep easily.

"He's sleeping." Harry said, brushing Louis' hair away from his eyes and propped up on his elbow  
with sheets bunched at his waist. "My poor petal."

Edward laid Louis down and covered him up properly, not letting any part of him go when he  
spared a minute to waste in bed. Louis had told him this was 'cuddling' of sorts and since then he's  
become a major fan.

"Do you think we should do Halloween this year?" Edward finally met Harry's eye before he woke  
up from the bed.

Harry thought this over and followed Edward to the brightly lit bathroom. "We always spent  
Halloween with our parents."

"They haven't spoken to us in five years, Harry. I highly doubt they will ask us to join them this  
year." Edward said hatefully to the mirror they had, fists against the counter as he contained any  
rage.

"I'm glad they didn't." Harry leaned his back against the counter, the finest artwork of a Greek God  
in all his nude glory. "I hated their parties."

Edward sighed and crossed his arms, pressed to Harry's side when he turned around. "You could go  
as a high school jock."

Harry laughed and pushed his hair forward, combing through it briefly before flipping it back. "And  
you can be a vampire."

"I won't be in need of a costume." His brother chuckled, both their gazes focused momentarily on  
the bed when Louis stirred but stayed asleep. "I'm putting him in lingerie."

"There won't be a point, would there?" Harry pouted sadly. "We won't be able to fuck 'im in it."  
"Still." Edward drummed his fingers on the marble pressing into his back. "Wouldn't that be a  
sight."

"It would." Harry agreed, biting his lip. The mere appearance of Louis in skimpy little feminine  
wear is worthy of the sacrifice. "Sometimes I don't want other people to even look at him."

Edward isn't surprised his brother would confess something like this to him, and looks at him no  
differently. "I know. I hate it too."

"They haven't done anything for him." Harry frowned as if the explanation was not wasted. "Why  
should they be allowed to be around him?"

"Social protocol." Edward tries to tame the beast surfacing in his brother's mind. "He'll always come  
back to us, brother."

Harry rested his head on Edward's shoulder and sighed, both tired and annoyed. "I'm so scared that  
one day he won't."

Edward awards his insecure sibling a peck on the forehead. "Why do you worry about that?"  
"What if one day he finds something out about us that makes him leave? I won't be able to handle  
that."

"Neither would I." Edward screws his eyes shut and tries to keep his heartbeat level. "We'll bring  
him back if he ever leaves."

"Even if he doesn't-"

"Even then."

  
* * * * *  


"Ugh. Fuck, Harry." Edward looks down at his nuisance of a brother on his knees. "Stand up."

"No." Comes an instant reply.

Harry grabs hold of Edward's c*ck and pumping it in his hand to full hardness. It wasn't very  
difficult considering the second Edward saw Harry invade his shower he knew what would happen.  
Harry took the tip of his erection into his mouth and suckled on it.

Small kitten licks and the flick of his tongue over the slit pulsing precome onto his gums, all Harry  
used to overpower his dominant brother. He took more of the swollen length down his throat, the  
tight passage clenching and gagging him. Edward's hand gripped his hair, so fiercely that it hurt.  
When his nose was brushing the very faint pubic hair on Edward's V-line, he dragged his teeth  
along the shaft on his way back up. Edward moaned loudly and his head fell back against the wall,  
holding Harry still as he fucked into and out of his mouth.

Terribly audible suction noises could be heard about the spray of hot water. Harry pulled off  
completely and moved down lower with his mouth of sin, hand still working over Edward's  
throbbing manhood with dedication. He swallowed around Edward's sack, taking them into his  
mouth and teasing them with harsh motions of his tongue.

"F-Fuck, you bastard." Edward was getting close and Harry felt it in his mouth, so he popped off.

Harry wet one finger by sucking on it, dampening it with his saliva and the shower's water. He  
didn't wait for permission after that and slid the lubricated appendage up against Edward's hole.  
He's always been wanting to explore this part of Edward's body with mouth or hand, but he was  
never allowed to.

Now when Edward doesn't vagrantly protest, he takes his time in engulfing the man's c*ck again  
with his mouth to deliver slow bobbing thrusts. The warmth swathed Edward's arousal before  
withdrawing, adding external pressure when Harry rubbed over his tight hole without shame. He  
groaned in his throat and came down Harry's throat from all the stimulation, not needing to hold out  
like when he was with their petal.

"What the fuck was that for?" Edward questioned, breathless and wide-eyed in shock.

Harry shrugged as he got to his feet, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. "Just felt like  
doing that."

"Bastard." Edward swallowed thickly and regained composure. "Don't do that again."

"I know you enjoyed it." Harry smirked, extremely proud of himself. "Admit it."

"Fuck off." Edward noted that Harry had his boxer briefs on, and they were pretty tight with a  
noticeable bulge in them. "Want me to return the favour?"

Harry shook his head and bit his lip, mischief in his eyes. "Petal's awake and he promised me."

"Did he?" Edward raised an eyebrow.

"I did!" Louis' own response came from the other side of the frosty shower door, followed by a loud  
giggle.

Edward looked mortified to think Louis _heard_ them but apparently this was a kind of master  
plan and he's not too happy about that. Harry realised this and rushed out of the shower before  
Edward could grab him. He exited the small area and found Harry with his arms around Louis'  
shoulders.

"Don't be angry." Louis smiled softly, stepping up to him when he got Harry to let go.

Their petal looked so delicate, so peaceful when he's fresh out of bed with a large T-shirt on and his  
thighs on display. Edward glared powerfully at Harry but looked down when Louis cupped his  
cheek.  
"Are you mad?" Louis asked him quietly, thumbing over a perfectly constructed jawline.

"Yes." Edward said through clenched teeth.

Louis distracted him from his furious glower by wrapping his arms around Edward's neck, jumping  
up to be clinging to him fully. His legs hooked over the man's hips and his bare ankles crossed at his  
back. He pressed their foreheads together and smiled when Edward held onto him as well.

"Sweet boy." Edward kissed Louis slowly, lovingly. "How could you plot against me?"

"I didn't." Louis said innocently, hands raking through Edward's hair. "I felt bad about this morning  
and-"

"Oh petal." Edward huffed, unhappy about the arrangement. "Do not ever regret something like  
that."

"I know that now, okay? Don't be angry." Louis pressed his cold nose to Edward's warm cheek. "I  
love you."

"Hmm." Edward buried his face in Louis' neck. "And I'll be reciprocating until I'm dead and gone."

His lover gasped and swatted his arm. "Don't say stuff like that, Daddy."

"Sorry, pup." Edward chuckled, his anxiety easily gone away now because Louis was on him.

"Harry, come here."

Obliging, Harry shuffled forward until Edward had a grip on his wrist to haul him in. "Yes?"

Edward included Harry in their embrace, Louis getting lifted into Harry's arms even if he could  
stand all on his own. "We're celebrating Halloween this year."

  
* * * * *  


"Does it hurt, petal?" Harry asked worriedly, watching the boy's face for any signs of pain in his  
reaction to what he was doing.

"No, Harry." Louis rolled his eyes as he took on an amused front. "You need to press harder."

After much deliberation over the course of five minutes, Harry decided to join Louis in a shower.  
He was self-appointedly in charge of the body gel and wash cloth which he used to clean their petal  
up from head to toe. He was very nervous about hurting Louis when it came to his glorious  
posterior and wanted to be thorough without causing damage.

Harry rubbed the cloth where he was most afraid to and cleaned Louis until he was sparkling. He  
was proud of himself and after wasting precious warm water admiring Louis' bum with reverent  
hands, he pecked the cigarette scar _he got to make_.

"All done?" Louis giggled as he found Harry standing to his full height, arms extended to block  
Louis from escaping.

"Yes, petal." Harry put the body gel back on a shelf they'd have to look at when they're packing up.  
"Your turn."

Louis grinned and stretched up while Harry bent down to kiss languidly, small hands on broad  
shoulders and a cocky grin pressed against Louis' shy smile.

"I wanna wash your hair." Louis announced as soon as his mouth is freed. "I've never had the  
chance."

"Never?" Harry rounds his lips in surprise, holding them against his _boyfriend's_ temple.  
"You're missing out, petal."

"I know." Louis pouts, unappreciative of his deprivation. "I'll do it once we get out of here."

Harry hums and Louis investigates the innumerable amount of tattoos Harry's got. He felt very  
small in the space he was allowed between man and wall, but also very safe.

"Edward said I should go as a jock for Halloween." Harry's thumb works circles around Louis' burn  
mark, making the boy wince as a result. "You can be my slave."

Scoffing as he choked on laughter, Louis felt Harry being just as amused. "I'm not your slave, even  
on Halloween."

"They don't have petal costumes." Harry reminded him, massaging shampoo into Louis' hair.

Louis' eyes closed and he moaned involuntarily. Nobody's washed his hair since infancy and it felt  
great to be taken care of once again. He'd give into slavery for Harry - only today - if he kept doing  
this. "Okay, I'll be your slave."

Bemused, Harry shook his head as he worked his fingers into the feathery hair of his petal. When  
soap threatened to go near the boy's eye, he'd dip low and kiss away the gathering the shampoo suds  
even if it tasted funny on his lips.

"You'll be my pretty petal." Harry said firmly, holding Louis' head back under the flow of water and  
washing away the shampoo. "I also believe that I am your slave."

Louis' blush was an ideal shade of delicate pink. "Let's hope they have costumes for us."

Their shower time is up once the water starts to run cold and Louis complains about it. Harry finds  
himself planted on a chair in front of the counter's basin with a big ol' smirk on his face when Louis  
situates himself on his lap. The boy laughs but doesn't respond to his absurd attempt at a grind  
upward.

Louis had a towel on to guard his chastity, a thick white one around his hips while gems of  
sparkling water rolled down to meet it. His chest was very sore and the nipple around which a bite  
mark was centred has not healed beyond random red lines. Harry licks his lips when he notices how  
that one is red and swollen unlike the other tanned one.

"Head back please." Louis asked, allowing Harry to lean his neck on the stone counter and have his  
hair under the tap.

He squeaked when large and protective hands rose to the handles of his hips, slipping under the  
towel and gripping the flesh of his thighs firmly. Harry just grinned, dimples coming out for Louis  
to admire.

Pouring some vanilla-cherry shampoo onto his palm, Louis stretched forward to lather up Harry's  
hair. The strands were silky even without conditioner and seemed to go on for miles as he laced  
through them. Sharp and curly tips that stuck to his hands as the red gel turned to foam.

"Can I....." Harry traced his finger around the uninjured nipple, wanting it in his mouth just because  
he felt comforted by it.

"No, Harry." Louis rubbed the shampoo in, scratching Harry's scalp and adding a bit of water.  
Harry frowned, deeply offended and _wounded._ "Why not, petal?"

"Because I don't wanna get dirty right after a shower."

"You won't." Harry brought his hand up to Louis' back and jerked him forward, closer. "Just want to  
feel."

Louis sighs and let's him go at it, not entirely aroused because of some lingering fatigue. Harry  
doesn't become too eager or suggestive either, just suckles on the hardened nub like he was nursing.  
He wondered what the need to do it was but Harry on his body made him feel secure and him being  
there made Harry comfortable so he didn't complain.

He washed out the shampoo with the drain plugged and his hands squeezing as much water out as  
possible. Harry never let up from his nipple and his arms never released his waist. Pouring a smaller  
amount of shampoo, Louis focused on Harry's hairline and was careful to massage along the  
receding expanse even at his nape. After washing that off, he rubbed conditioner in his hands and  
spread it through Harry's hair.

"I'll wash it out it ten minutes." Louis said after the conditioner was set in and the waiting period  
began. "You done down there?"

Harry groans and it shoots spirals up Louis' spine but he pulls off anyway and pecks the very pink  
nipple. Louis curls up against Harry's chest and presses his ear to the strong pulse of his neck.

"Hey, Daddy?" Louis kisses that pulse.

Harry hates conversations that start with greetings in the middle of a conversation. What awful style  
is that? "Yes, petal?"

He feels the word forever carved into his throat. "I love you."

  
* * * * *  


Louis has been completely turned against the idea of costumes for Halloween. They don't need  
clothing and a bit of a fake blood to just walk around the festival processions and appreciate all  
there is. Harry, however, is dead serious about costumes and will not be wavered in his decision  
even by his brother.

They've walked down three roads just to get some fresh air outside that hotel room and confines of  
their car, watching people set up their stalls and last minute decorations. Finally they'd found a store  
that sold costumes, open even now until noon.

Since Edward and Louis' hearts weren't in it anymore, Harry found himself doing all the work.  
"Look at this." Louis frowned at a fake murder axe set-up. "What do you even do with this?"

Edward took over and studied the detail, then smirked like he was finally going to answer the  
question of how the earth began. "Amateurs, petal."

Laughing behind a cough when the store manage walked by, Louis walked over to Harry who was  
deeply unimpressed by every outfit. After thirty minutes spent browsing, Harry confirmed what  
they knew all along.

"This is awful." Harry shook his head and turned to walk out. "We're not doing this."

Edward cackled much to Louis' reaction of flaming cheeks and threw an arm over the boy's  
shoulders. He reeled him in for a quick kiss that ended in more tongue than necessary due to prying  
eyes from the store employees. They never got to see someone with such realistic cannibal teeth,  
who had a boyfriend as contradictory to him as possible.

It was as if Heaven and Hell actually allowed their best specimens to belong to one another.

"If you're done putting on a show-" Louis knew exactly what Edward's ulterior motive was when he  
snogged him senseless in public, teeth scraping his all but painfully. "-I'd like to eat something."

Surrendering more of himself to the moment of arbitrary decisions, Edward presses one more kiss  
on Louis' swollen lips to watch him smile more brilliantly than the sun. "What would you like me to  
feed you, petal?"

Harry is outside leaning against a parking meter and watching people stroll by in groups or pairs,  
observing every little thing that caught his eye. Some folks had their costumes on already, others  
just half of it as they raced to closing stores to finish up. Some didn't look his way while others -  
younger females - took it upon themselves to politely wave.

"Something spicy." Louis proposed. He hasn't had spicy food in a long time, since Niall's failed  
attempt at an Indian dish.

Edward was all too willing to pat Louis' back pocket in a subtle warning. "Where are your manners,  
petal?"

Louis chewed his upper lip and looked at Edward who had much sharper molars sunk into his lower  
one. "Please, Daddy?"

"Better." Edward yanks the rickety door open and the entire contraption shivers on its hinges. "Let's  
go. Got to feed my baby."

Outside, Harry turns around from his people-watching occupation to uncross his ankles and stand  
up fully. His previous conclusion about people _not knowing_ who they are has been shot to  
Hell when the owner of a barber shop across the street did a double take upon noticing him.  
Since that moment four people have glared at him and eight have walked in the middle of the road  
to avoid him.

"They know." Harry nodded in the direction of the people who were looking their way.

Louis came to a stop right next to him, putting his hands down his own jeans pockets and following  
that line of vision. "They can't exactly do anything."

Those residents of this tiny town were whispering to one another and after Louis showed up, their  
eyes widened in surprise. Why would someone choose to associate themselves with mental cases?  
Louis could laugh at the question today.

"Lou's right." Edward says gruffly, passively annoyed by the eyes studying them. "They're forced to  
let us be ordinary guests in their unfortunate town."

The staring didn't stop until they got to walking in part closer to downtown, Louis hoisted up on  
Harry's back because the man offered under the pretence that he can be a perfect gentleman.

"I think-" Louis raised his head from Harry's shoulder when the scenario around them got stranger.  
"Why are they smiling?"

Edward hadn't cared to notice other people. Louis has been watching the reactions change from  
phobic to terrified and now.....pleased? He's not entirely sure why this new, younger round of  
Dynasville citizens look like they're entirely happy about Harry and Edward being on their  
sidewalk.

"Everyone has fans, petal." Edward's mouth twitched in the ghost of a smirk. "Even the worst of  
people."

Louis looked back at the youngsters from Edward and one, a female with dirty blonde hair and no  
costume, raised her hand to _wave._ He frowned and looked away, conflicted down to his  
core. These people were _fans_ of Edward and Harry? Of what they'd done? What kind of  
crazy are they breeding in this town?

"This is weird." Louis commented in Harry's ear, staring at the pavement. "Have you seen this  
before?"

"Never." Harry squeezes his thighs a little. "I don't particularly like it either."

"Yes." Edward holds open the door to an Indian take-away with chairs and tables outside. "We plan  
not to pay attention to them since we cannot eradicate it."

Edward gave Louis a pointed look when he finished his statement, making the boy grin as he slid  
off Harry's back to test if his legs still worked. "I appreciate your efforts."

The take-away is grand enough to have themed decorations at the counter where a giant menu stood  
rather than printed individual ones. Nobody from the Styles entourage outside comes in while Louis  
reads the menu with their hotel room key in his hand, Harry staring at him rather than the food  
choices.

"We should ge- Harry." Louis turned to finish his sentence and found the man very, very close to his  
side. "Hi, Harry."

Harry has gotten better at this 'greeting in the middle of a conversation' and grins without  
reservations. "Hi, petal."

"What are you doing?" Louis tilts his head back and questions the humour in Harry's eyes. 

"You're very beautiful, petal." Harry ropes his heavy arms over Louis' shoulders. "You're also mine,  
which entitles me to staring at you and being very near you without judgement."

With a heavy sigh but flattered pink tint to his cheeks, Louis shows Edward the item he chose and  
observes the responding frown he gets. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing, petal." Edward shakes his head and accompanies Louis to the line where they place their  
orders.  
Louis speaks politely to the man with strong traditional heritage, ignoring his distaste towards the  
consistent hold Harry has on him. His waist or shoulders or opposite front pants pocket. After  
getting a printed receipt handed to him a bold number, Louis chews the inside of his cheek at the  
man's scowl when they thumbs brush. He touches Edward's heated wrist and move away.

"The fuck-"

"Shh." Louis cuts him off, redirecting Edward's attention back to their table. "Let's get our food  
first."

Harry hasn't cared much to notice other people but looks up when the conversation hints at  
something that he should care about. "What happened?"

"Nothing, Haz." Louis reassures him, the concerned frown not lifting from the man's features.

Edward hunches his shoulders inward when he waits for their number to be called. By this point, at  
least four new customers have walked in just to see them by the booth in the corner. Edward would  
look up, catch one of those ignorant teenagers' eyes and refocus on Louis' hands to distract himself  
from wanting to hurl a chair in their direction.

"Hey." Louis took Edward's hand in both of his. "You okay?"

"It's fuckin' disturbing, petal." Edward spoke softly, unnerved by the possibility of anyone hearing  
them.

Louis knew what he meant and leaned forward to reply. "You can never tell them to stop though."

"They _don't understand_ that life!" Edward nearly shouts. "How can they be so stupid?"

"Look at me." Louis captures both sides of Edward's face, letting his own mind become a violent  
cave of sanctity for the man. "Calm down. Better?"

Edward held Louis' forearms, his hands overlapping with such thin widths. "Hardly, petal."

"Well-" Louis kissed the tip of Edward's nose. "-they'll never understand and you can't make them.  
For now, during this phase they go through because that's all this is, just ignore them."

Their number is called and Edward has been made confident enough to snatch to receipt and go get  
it himself. Louis watches the whole queue move backwards to make _enough space_ for him  
and how the murmurs pick up several octaves. Ear to ear covered by cupped hands.

"I'm proud of you." Louis said when one third of their party returned. 

Edward flashed him a dazzling crooked smile and seated himself down with a silver oven tray that's  
sealed with a white cardboard sheet. Louis unfolds the corners and edges, lifting the cardboard  
piece to let steam waft into the humid air. It smelt divine and Louis predicted that it would.

"You'll have to feed me, petal. I've got my hands full." Harry squeezed Louis' hips to demonstrate  
his point.

"I've got to wash my hands." Louis stands up after spotting a bathroom and weaves through un-set  
tables to reach it.

He steps inside the gents bathroom and goes to the sinks, opening one with a hand towel from the  
door and washing up. The weather is humid and his skin has gotten sticky so he splashes water on  
his face, neck and arms. To prevent wetting everything else around him he bends forward over the  
counter.

His bum still hurts at any kind of stretch or pressure that put a strain on it, the bruises having only  
begun their healing process. Louis' glad he chose khaki's for today rather than regular jeans that  
would suffocate him.

A bathroom stall opens when he's wiping his face with fresh hand towels from a dispenser and he  
only got to feel a sharp tip against his back before opening his eyes in a wave of fear. The blade  
nicks his skin when he suddenly stands upright, pinned to the counter and facing the mirror that  
allows him to look at his attacker.

"Hel-"

"Shut up." A hand closes over his mouth, the blade digging deeper into Louis' back until he thinks  
it'll paralyse him with contact to his nervous system.

The mugger is masked with vigilant brown eyes and Louis starts to panic when he's got nothing  
solid to grab onto. He screams behind the hand that's sealing his mouth and muffling those shouts,  
desperate to alert someone of his peril.

"Fucking _shut up_." Says his offender, minty breath fanning Louis' ear.

"Petal." A voice that's a _relief_ to hear splits the moment in two.

One second the man holding him prisoner is yanked away and in the next, his own blade slices  
through his jugular. Blood sprays across Louis' shirt and the wall, decorating it in a dripping  
crimson that's warm and fresh from a kill.

Harry's eyes are feral when Louis looks at him, finally having scratched the itch beneath his skin.  
The _real_ criminal sinks to the ground with a growing pool of his own bodily fluids, Harry  
holding him firm with one hand around his severed neck. His fingers dug into the gash, burying  
them into the vessels that emptied themselves into his hand.

"If you hadn't known-" Harry held the writhing man against him, soaking his shirt in blood. "-  
_don't touch what belongs to me._"

Louis' eyes peel open and he grips the counter with harsh nails when Harry throws the attacker  
against the wall. His head snaps back completely off its attachment. The wide and fatal injury on his  
neck worsens, ripping through skin and getting wider. 

"Petal?" Harry already doesn't care for the mess he's made, dropping the blade and trailing blood  
behind him when he goes to Louis.

"Th-Thank you." Louis hugs him close, tightly closing his eyes so he doesn't have to imagine what  
would have happened without Harry.

"Another reason why petals need their daddies." Harry kisses Louis' cheek and picks him up off the  
tiles, eyes searching Louis' to make sure he's still with him. "Baby?"

"I'm okay." Louis nodded, smiling weakly with small shivers. "I promise. I'm fine."

Harry let's Louis shiver through some of the trauma, clinging to him in a haphazard embrace.  
Neither minds the blood smearing their clothes and skin, just hanging on to the fine thread that kept  
Louis from dropping again together.

"Still hungry?" Harry carries Louis out, making every pair of eyes in the room turn to them.  
Edward's chair scrapes the floor when he jumps to his feet, eyes wild and frown etched onto his  
forehead. "What the fuck happened?"

Louis goes to answer but Harry does so faster. "Some idiot in the toilets had a knife."

"So the blood is real?"

"Yeah."

Edward puts Louis on the ground and Harry deals with the angry store owner, cursing more than  
necessary. Edward smiles when Louis replies to all of his questions and responds with physical  
expressions, ending with a shocking request.

"I want alcohol." Louis looks around them, mentally confirming his desire for this. "Will you go on  
a date with me to a club?"

Harry overhears this and after the police are called, rejoins the conversation. "I'm for it."

"I don't see why not." Edward straightens his back and pulls Louis in under his arm, bending down  
to connect their lips. "You look ravishing covered in blood, petal."

Louis looks up at him, snaking an arm around Edward's waist. "I know."

  
* * * * *  


"Scream for him."

"No."

"You have to. He's deaf in one ear, you know."

Grumbling irritably because he did know that, Niall held the bathroom door open. "_Liam!_  
Hurry up for Christ's sake!"

Zayn laughed and squeezed Niall's hip as a reward for the effort. "Liam's not really deaf, ducky."

Niall glares at his boyfriend and wants very much to pry his hand off but it's warm and protective  
around him. He shouldn't have to suffer because Zayn is mean.

They're waiting to have a meeting after Liam gets off the phone with his captain about the files  
Zayn brought. Niall has his room service food on a tray beside him and is ready to vouch that he  
can hear absolutely nothing in lieu of confidentiality.

"What did he say?" Zayn looked up at Liam's tired face when he walked out, flipping the light off  
and rubbing his face.

"Said I could have the unpaid leave or hand the work to this other guy in my precinct. I told him  
this case is mine." Liam shrugged, crawling onto their bed and picking up a fry from Niall's food.

"So you're doing this for what reason?" Zayn asks, him not being allowed to have any fries.

"Louis asked it of me and I think he may be right about that Edmund guy being scared to death."  
"What?" Niall stared at him. "One of the twins is dead?"

"No, Ni." Liam smiles and puts his head on Niall's lap, staring at the ceiling as he read files.  
"Edmund was another patient."

"Oh. Carry on."

"So-" Zayn picked up a grey folder that contained Edmund's personal details. "-what was Louis'  
hypothesis precisely?"

"He saw something." Liam set the file down. "I've been up since eleven last night trying to figure  
out what he could have seen."

"You found somethin'?" Zayn hurries him along, impatient as ever.

"Yeah, check this out." Liam suddenly sits up and Niall tries not to get squashed to pulp. Two pages  
are taken out of Liam's file and showed to Zayn.

The photograph Zayn is shown depicts a man with fairly human features save for a permanently  
scarred eyebrow that is forever risen towards his hairline. His upper lip is cut at the corner and he's  
got something pink smeared across his cheek, like lipstick but a whole lot of it.

He's got deep-set green eyes that are significantly smaller than a normal person's pupils. His skin  
was pulled over his face like he'd pegged it at the back and Niall swears those eyes move when he  
does.

Even through the photograph everyone feels like there are eyes on them, watching and listening to  
make sure they stayed in line. He looked stern but Zayn will bet his best feature this man is leaps  
ahead of insane.

"Diagnosed clinically insane in the late nineties." Liam reads off a sheet. "Proven charges before his  
sentence in to the Madhouse are assault on a minor, two counts of rape, thirteen of homicide and  
three restraining orders."

"Fucking Hell." Zayn mutters. "We just don't get freaks like this up in Detroit."

"What's this?" Niall forgets about how he isn't supposed to be paying attention and points to a  
highlighted paragraph on Liam's document.

"Charges against him during his stay at the Madhouse." Liam doesn't call him out on it. "He raped  
and murdered the Sister who was supposed to be taking care of him. The other attendants only  
found out in the morning and by then, he was long gone."

"Weren't there cameras?" Zayn turned the profile photo over to keep those eyes from looking into  
their world.

"There were and not a single one picked up his escape. Each gate and fence is monitored but it's  
proven that he just didn't leave that night or any other night. His room is never used and everyone  
who'll speak to me believes he's still on the premises."

"After all these years?"

"Yes and after looking at that face, tell me you wouldn't drop dead in the night if that's the first thing  
you saw when you got up to take a piss."

Zayn traced over his teeth with his tongue, whistling to himself. This man was a new level of  
creepy.

Liam turns the page over, expression hardening. "That's not even the most fucked up detail. His  
name is Sir Dexter Styles, as in _father_ to Edward and Harry Styles."


	33. Chapter Thirty- Three

_Shadows of a thousand years rise again unseen. Voices whisper in the trees: Tonight is  
Halloween._

***NARRATOR'S POV***

Halloween night began at 18h00 when people were decked out in their costumes, obscene or meek,  
ready to trick or treat. Kids went from door to door and the adults found themselves locked up in an  
x-rated world featured in every nightclub in Dynasville.

The club Louis was surrounded by, swallowed whole by a neon-lit establishment, was called  
_Razor_ and it was on top of its game for this Halloween.

_Razor's_ ceiling had chandeliers of red gems that dripped red liquid onto the dance floor,  
light bulbs and strobe lights that flickered black or red. There were vapourising equipment installed  
all over the two-floor building that exhaled alcohol into the atmosphere. He could smell it in the air  
and taste it on his tongue.

Music was remixed and made louder, vibrations coursing through the floor he walked on. The  
horror soundtrack was played at every bass drop, leaving people in an unsteady euphoric state.  
People all but had sex on the dance floor and nobody said anything because it was Halloween and  
there were no rules tonight.

Every lyric was haunted and every shout could be genuine horror when _Razor's_ delivered  
another practical terror to make your heart jump, but Louis felt safe in the least secure environment.  
He had a mouth on his neck, wet and warm on his flushed skin. Sharp teeth scraped over the scar it  
had made weeks ago, reimbursing it with more bites and bruises. Strong hands held his back close  
to a hard, toned chest. His eyes slipped shut and he inhaled deeply the taste of vodka that hung  
above their heads.

Breath caught in his throat when Edward's face loomed over his, eyes blackened to coals and teeth  
red from the lighting. He swooped down and caught Louis in a hard kiss, dominating it immediately  
and led Harry's hands to the ideal spot for kneading.

Harry grinded into Louis with the rhythmic beat of vibrant music guiding him. His palm flattened  
between Louis' thighs, parting them and holding him back as the boy gasped and shuddered.  
Someone tried to invade their bubble for whatever pathetic reason and Edward shoved them back so  
hard the stranger took three people down with him. Like a challenged Alpha with frayed nerves,  
Edward returned to Louis and latched onto him as much as he could.

The alcohol that settled on Louis' skin from the vapourisers tasted better when it was licked off him.  
Edward detached their lips with a wet smacking sound, and his palms pushed down the back of  
Louis' pants to grope him more possessively.

Louis' neck was exposed as he threw his head back onto Harry's shoulder, lost to music and  
adrenaline racing through his drugged veins. He bit his lip when two mouths zeroed in on his bare  
flesh. Harry took a bit in his teeth and _pulled_ in a way that made Louis squirm, heat  
blossoming in his abdomen. 

The tongues that swiped over his throat met once and Harry teased Edward, daring him to initiate  
something. Louis was caught between them, a cage of four broad arms as Edward sucked Harry's  
tongue into his mouth and stole every ounce of taste it had. He devoured the essence and went back  
to Louis' body, worshipping it.

"I want a drink." Edward pulled off Louis' red skin, laden with dried alcohol and saliva. He  
removed his hands from Louis' firm behind and looked him in the eye, his ferocity scorching Louis'  
enthusiasm. "And I want to drink it off your body, petal."

Louis felt over heated and _intense_ under Edward's scrutiny. He parted his lips and Edward  
smirked devilishly, easily becoming the scariest person in the room.

"My good boy." Edward's knuckles brushed Louis' cheekbone.

Pliant and dependent, Louis leaned into Edward's hand as he blinked away the fuzziness in his  
vision. Harry picked the boy up all of a sudden and left him in the cradle of his arms. Louis was  
about to protest and wriggle free when a loud cheer broke out and splashing sounds were heard.  
Edward laughed and Harry let Louis peek over his shoulder, legs wrapped tightly around his waist.  
Something had flooded the dance floor and flowed up their ankles, deep maroon in colour and  
staining everyone's pants.

"It's blood, petal." Harry said by means of explanation in Louis' ear. "Animal blood."

Louis watched in amazement as people were excited further by the abrupt flow of blood at their  
feet, getting splashed around and danced through like it was _normal_. Maybe there are more  
crazy people in the world and they all come to _Razor_ on Halloween night.

By the time Harry manoeuvred them to the bar, people were drawn on or covered in animal blood.  
Louis thought the whole thing to be inhumane but there's going to be a massive grill after the party  
so he figures that's where the blood came from.

After being set down, Louis didn't want to take a chance and get hurt by the way people were  
shoving one another in here. He stayed tucked under Harry's arm and took a tall glass of an iced  
green alcoholic beverage with a blood red rim when Edward gave it him.

"Bottom's up, baby!" Edward stole a kiss before tipping Louis' glass back and pouring the drink  
down his throat.

Louis got brave with a new buzz of delicious intoxication in his system, and returned the favour by  
feeding Edward his drink. The man was willing and winked at Louis from behind the crystal of his  
glass. A drop or two dripped down Edward's chin and Louis kitten licked it off his face without  
permission.

"Hey man!" Someone shouted, male and abusive to the ear, when they tripped over Harry's stool.  
"Watch where- Holy _shit_."

Harry tightened his arms around Louis protectively when this stranger stood up with two beers in  
each hand and crowded their space. Louis held Edward's wrists to keep the growl in his chest from  
becoming something extreme. It didn't work for the first few seconds.

"You're them!" Cried the young athlete with a suspicious bruised bump on his forehead, his quiff no  
longer neat and smile broad.

It definitely wasn't working for Louis when Edward had murder strike his eye, the adrenaline of the  
atmosphere just fuelling his craze. Louis rocked up on his tiptoes and braced his hands on Edward's  
shoulders, his face hidden when he nibbled on the man's earlobe and whispered in his ear.

"Would you like to lick tequila or rum off my body?" His thumb brushed back and forth over  
Edward's pulse, knowing exactly how to tame the beast. "Don't get angry and waste time, Daddy."

Edward was a highly functional mess after that, encouraging Louis with little nudges to speak more  
or have his lips on him at some point. Louis was smiling against his jaw, face turned away from the  
thumping music and eyes closed as he pressed closer to him.

"You are them, right? Sorry, I didn't mean to fuck things up this early." The intruding individual  
said, looking and sounding honoured to be here. "Just, I met you and thought I'd tell you about the  
kill spree downstairs."

Louis stopped his seductive ministrations as Edward and Harry both did as well. Harry spoke first,  
deep and gruff. "Kill spree?"

"Yeah, bro!" The teenager's eyes lit up at Harry talking directly to him. "It's....It's like in your  
honour!"

Frowning, Louis withdrew from Edward's collarbone and looked at this new person with hazy  
contemplation. What kind of absurdity is this? Are these people so insane?

"They're _killing_ people?" He rushes to ask, hoping he is wrong.  
The jock looks at him with a type of admiration. Anyone who got in with the Styles was worth  
recognition and loyalty. "No! No, like _pretending_. I think? They're pretty rad down there."

Louis looks at this person with a frozen mouth and a loss for words. He really doubted the  
intelligence of this generation. Harry picks up on his hostility, bending to nip at Louis' throat and  
give him a comforting kiss with sugary lips.

"I love you, petal." Harry murmurs, just to lighten the tension and turn Louis away because the  
conversation now bores him.

Humming, Louis exposes more of his neck to Harry and forgets about the invitation extended to  
them. Harry runs his hands up Louis' sides and inhales deeply, kicking over a bar stool to be pressed  
up against his back. Louis almost screams but settles for a little shuffle that makes Harry groan from  
friction on his crotch.

"Tell me about the kill spree." Edward instructed the inquisitive teenager who won't stop looking at  
Harry and his petal. "What's your name?"

That gets his attention. "Jake!"

"Well Jake-" Edward takes a step closer and stood half a head taller. "-if you don't stop admiring  
what won't ever be yours, I will start my own kill spree."

Jake immediately turned into a flustered joke and sputtered. "I-I'm sorry, man. Didn't me-mean to-"

"Tell me about the kill spree." Edward ordered _again_, becoming impatient.

Harry stopped groping and harassing his boyfriend after he got giggles out of him. He stood up  
straight and their lips meshed together in perfect synchronisation. Louis tasted of apple and ice  
cream while Harry tasted of his second cigarette and rust from where he bit his lip too hard.

"We kinda just re-enact murders." Jake explains, drowning one of the drinks in his hand. "The lads  
would love if you and your brother came down to watch."

"Jake, we've seen and done it all." Edward chuckled. "We don't need to be celebrated by those who  
want to accomplish the same things."

Jake took on a more saddened appearance and then was suddenly hit with a revelation. "Fine then  
you should go here."

Edward waited while his partner in conversation set his drinks down before extracting his phone  
and scrolling.

"This-" Jake shows him a text. "-is where the real shit happens."

The text read as follows:

_'Hallow's Eve: this year's theme is Styles Manor. For real blood go underground where you  
know you shouldn't. Don't bring a friend.'_

Edward howled with laughter when he saw the text, bringing Louis back to his side. Amateurs were  
always the funniest in their bleak and morbid attempts at seeking approval from a person greater  
than them. He made sure to look Jake in the eye when he shot him down.

"Thank you, but I'd rather not leave this one's side." Edward gave Louis' waist an affirmative little  
squeeze, chuckling when Louis rolled his eyes.

Jake left them dejectedly, seeking out the company of whom he arrived with. When his sorrowful  
and hunched back was a decent distance away, Louis slotted himself between Edward's parted knees  
and kissed him deeply. Edward was very willing to oblige and cupped Louis through his pants at the  
back to bring him closer.

"I assume that was my reward for something, petal?" Edward opened his eyes when Louis' fingers  
were twirling the flaps of his shirt collar and their foreheads rested against each other's.

His petal truly looked captivating with such pale skin exposed to an environment so sinful and  
barbaric. It made Edward's heart skip a beat in the least romantic way. Louis looked up from under  
those thick and feminine lashes, smiling softly.

"You said no." Louis' nose bumped his when he slid his body nearer to his, Edward not budging an  
inch except to dig his nails into Louis' behind. "I didn't think you would."

Louis was less than a centimetre away, their lips brushed by one another whenever either one spoke.  
Their eyes met, bloodshot and blown wide in both instances, and Edward couldn't resist another   
kiss. Lips fitted perfectly together and a small noise crawled up Louis' throat when Edward breathed  
in deeply, hauling him onto his lap to continue their intimacy.

"Of course I'd say no." Edward managed to say when Louis separated them, his mouth moving to  
Edward's neck where he bit down on his strong pulse.

The atmosphere was so _charged_ with energy, sexual and otherwise. It drove a man crazy and  
a crazy man to drastic lunacy. Edward loved Louis' hands and lips on him, claiming just as he  
would. Possessively and forcefully.

Harry got back from the bartender's keep with a refreshed drink supply. He handed a bottle of water  
to Louis after he finished his shot of whatever was crystal clear like water in his tiny glass. Louis  
was appreciative and drank half of the five hundred millilitres in one go.

"The sprinklers are comin' on." Harry sits on a bar stool beside Edward and Louis looks over his  
shoulder at the dance-floor.

Attached to the ceiling were dozens of mini sprinklers that were meant to spray water but upon a  
heavy thrust of vibrations that shook everyone's innards, something hotter and thicker flung itself at  
every present person. Girls giggled and raised their arms, exposing more of themselves to the spray  
of alcohol.

"Not blood, petal." Harry got Louis on his feet the boy eagerly followed him through couples of  
sweaty bodies to reach the wooden platform.

Louis' shoes squeak against the waxed flooring when he kicks and slides against the gathering of  
red thickness pooled at his feet. No doubt his shoes were now irretrievable. He noticed how Harry's  
boots - far more expensive than Vans - were matted with blood and before he could voice a word,  
was spun around. His back collided with Harry's firm chest, hard and unforgiving.

"Close your eyes." Harry tilted Louis' back and opened his mouth for him, watching in silent  
pleasure as dark freckles formed on the boy's face from the potion of alcohol flying onto them.  
The magical mixture fell on everyone and Harry got his own taste when he licked his lips. He held  
his petal in his arms, nailed against him as the music got a lot more sensual for them. Louis bit his  
lip and Harry wiped at the spots of ill-shot substances with his sleeve.

"There you are, baby." Harry watched Louis open his eyes, eyelids revealing onyx orbs that made  
his pulse quicken.

Louis blinked a few times to adjust his eyes after they were shut for a lapse in time. His lips quirked  
into a smile and allowed himself to be protectively shrouded as they danced. Harry held the small of  
his back and more often than not, he'd dip down to lock lips with the love of his life.

"I want to get a tattoo tonight." Harry's palm slapped against the cold pillar made of clear plastic  
that's forming mist at the head and tail. He dug a cigarette out of his pocket and lit it up. "One for  
you."

"A tattoo?" Louis braced his palms on Harry's pectorals, his mind a little fast-paced and fuzzy  
because of having so many drinks. "What kind?"

"Here." Harry picked up his left hand and circled with ring finger with the opposite side's forefinger.  
"I'll tattoo 'petal' around it."

"You sound like you've given this some thought." Louis giggles.

"I have."

Harry taps Louis' bottom lip with his index and they immediately fall open for him. He takes a long  
drag of the cigarette, eternally grateful to whichever part of the darker world gave him Louis, before  
blowing it out in a concentrated beeline for Louis' pharynx. The boy coughed it all out which  
amused Harry greatly.

"So sensitive, petal." Harry pinched his chin, watching Louis pout with hooded eyes. "I wish you  
weren't recovering. I'd fuck you into tomorrow right now if I could."

Louis' gems in place of his eyes sparkled with opportunity. He took Harry's hand in his and led him  
off the dance-floor to the door that opened to an alley out back. Harry followed him right to the  
giant brass barrier, passing a look over his shoulder at Edward so there were no alarms if they  
couldn't be found.

Once outside with just the pale moonlight to highlight all that is newly marked about their skin,  
from sweat or bite, Louis let the door close before pushing Harry against a wall on the other side of  
a navy blue dumpster.

Harry got to hit his head on the cold brick wall, uneven brickwork digging into his spine, as Louis  
got on his knees. Where they would normally touch the ground of filthy water from God knows  
where, Louis placed his knees on Harry's shoes so they were saved at least that.

He undid the shiny zipper on Harry's Levis jeans and released him from where the confines got too  
tight. Harry's dark and heatedly aroused gaze fell on the boy, groaning at the back of his throat when  
Louis licked a stripe over his length. As much as he tried, Louis' mouth was too tempting and he  
found himself thrusting into the wet heat urgently.

The swollen head of his erection dug deep into Louis' throat, rendering his voice a croak rather than  
honey-sweet sound. He let Louis flick his wrist at the parts he couldn't reach and make absurd  
suction noises that were unnecessarily loud when he suckled the tip. His thin lips turn cherry red  
and swollen.

"Fuck, petal." Harry blew out hot puffs of white air into the night, lacing the clouds with the story  
of their risky rendezvous.

Louis suddenly got up off his knees and switched them around, putting himself under the direct  
light of an Exit sign and pulling Harry into him. The man released a long moan into Louis' neck and  
hastily undid his buttoned pants to kick them off.

"I could still fuck you, petal." Harry closed his eyes and imagined it, wrapping Louis' legs around  
him and sticking two dry fingers where he's bruised. "Make you bleed all over my c*ck."

"Ah." Head rolling back, Louis let the alcohol command his body.

He spread his legs further and Harry massaged his pelvic region with harsh strength, causing  
whimpers and jerks to come of him. "Want it, baby?"

"Y-Yeah, Daddy." Louis mewled, licking his lips and knotting his fingers in Harry's hair. "Fuck me,  
Daddy. Make me bleed."

Harry would. He'd tear Louis' clothes off and ravish him until he was pile of nothing, but he's  
_Louis_ and that changed everything. "You're my horny little bunny rabbit, aren't you? I love  
you so much, petal."

Louis sensed where this was going and whined in complaint, tightening his legs and refraining from  
humping his own tight boxer briefs against Harry's abs. _"Daddy."_

"Hush now, petal." Harry reprimanded. "My petal doesn't beg. I won't allow it, baby."

Turning obedient - so as not to further upset Harry - Louis does what he thinks is expected of him.  
He blinks away the sting of want beneath the bags under his eyes, staring up at the sky and while  
ongoing torture is carried on below his neckline.

"Daddy." He willingly cries out the name, body completing a vicious cycle of roll-and-snap as  
Harry grinds them into oblivion. "Daddy. Daddy, please."

"What, baby?" Harry is so _tempted_ to do more than just circle his hips, but it's nearly  
impossible to be careful while doing this already.

Louis can't find the words to complete his request and just hands himself over, body and soul, to  
anything Harry wants to do to him. He admires to no low extent how the man can pick him up and  
pin his body against any surface at anytime. Their size difference is so ideal that it allows for such  
phenomena.

Harry's arm could support Louis' whole mass, spread open and trapped. It made him feel helpless  
and so _tucked in_ that it drove him up the wall with a rumbling libido.

Out of nowhere a voice slices through their escapade and Louis could _sob_ \- more than he  
already is - because he was so terribly close. He clings to Harry with parted knees and locked arms,  
his thighs quivering already as Harry grunted and fought an impending orgasm.

"_That's_ him?!" Comes an obnoxious tone from the other side of the dumper where onlookers  
just appeared.

"Yeah, man. Shut up!" Replies someone else, sounding more familiar.

Louis almost slips when Harry tries to not render their intimate moment lost because of these  
intruding idiots. He sighs into Louis' neck and doesn't move due to the fact that he's the only thing  
guarding his petal's modesty at the moment. Like vermin, maybe they'll scurry away when they  
realise they're in over their heads.

Unintentionally, Louis is carding through Harry's hair in an unlicensed attempt to calm them both  
down. Harry's chest is in a permanent mode of growling, pressing those coarse vibrations into  
Louis' tummy where his shirt rode up.

"It can't be him, Jake." Whispered the voice of someone a little less pleasant, followed by the sound  
of a not-so-careful collision.

Harry's head jerked upward and Louis tried to relax him again, not wanting anything to break out.  
They're both significantly less on edge now because Harry has a bad gut feeling and Louis can pick  
up on it.

"He listens to a bitch, Jake. There's no way-"

Louis doesn't hear more than that because Harry is retracting from his body, jaw screwed so tight it  
might backfire. His eyes are ablaze and Louis' only seen that look one other time today.

"Petal-"

"Shh." Louis covered Harry's mouth with his hand, silently praying that this is where it ends. "It's  
nothing."

It really was like holding onto a beast and trying to control it with just your words because it was so  
much stronger than you in every other way. Louis caressed Harry's hollowed cheek and kissed the  
other one, crossing his ankles behind the man's muscular back.

"Fuck this."

Louis feels the undeniable, insmotherable need to scream because _why can't people just leave  
them alone?_ He just got Harry to focus solely on him, nibbling bluntly on the skin of his neck.

"Hey!" Louis winces and hangs onto Harry with all his weak might, trying to block out the sound.  
"Hey! Are you Harry Styles?"

Harry pretends not to hear. He continues palpating the softness of Louis' thighs, finding immense  
comfort in the boy's neck. Louis starts to panic when three figures walk out from behind the mass of  
a dumpster.

"Petal." Harry whispers in Louis' ear. "Tell them to fuck off."'

Without so much vulgarity, Louis paraphrases his request. "Do you mind? We're busy."

It's a little high-pitched and a lot unconvincing but Harry appreciates his baby's effort and rewards  
him with a well-earned peck on the neck right over Edward's bite scar.

"He can get back to you." Snaps Jake's accomplice with a bulky leather jacket and bald head. "I'm  
sure your hour's not up."

And well, that does it.

Harry's whole body tenses until it's as stiff as tree bark. He very carefully lowers Louis to the  
ground, suffocating all the boy's silent warnings not to do this with a gentle kiss on the forehead.  
When Harry turns around, his fly is redone and Louis hurries to pull his pants back up.

With each word of accented syllables, Harry stalks forward. "Did you just _imply_ that the  
love of my life is a whore?"

Jake whistles, high off the top because of one too many beers. "Told ya, bro."

"You can go." Harry sneers at Jake, making him and the other unknown company make a break for  
it.

Louis can imagine how monstrous Harry looked from the front right now. He must have those  
creases on his frontal lobe, eyebrows knitted together because he was furious. The vibes rolling off  
him were nothing short of lethal.

"Sorry, man." The offending person sputtered. "I never meant no offence by it."

Harry laughed. Threw his head back and released a demonic howl of a chortle because when people  
quaked in their boots, he felt more alive. "I know you don't now, but you did then and I won't stand  
for your insolence. My petal is very dear to me and your little comment made me very  
_upset._"

By the time Harry stopped taking intimidating strides forward and Louis looked up from where his  
fingers were jittery but still trying to button his jeans up, the invasive teenager who knew no  
boundaries was sprawled across the floor taking hit after hit with a solid fist.

"Harry!" Louis thought he's been going through these moment much too many times. "Harry, you've  
got to stop!"

These moments however will never expire in excitement for Harry. The promise of a split skull on  
the cobble stone ground in an empty night on a haunted holiday has him really worked up. He wants  
this asshole's face to cave into that skull until it turns hollow and bleeds out onto the alley floor. His  
knuckles are split with each impact and covered with blood that sprays as an aftermath ejection after  
each pound.

Louis figures screaming won't help anyone and if Edward isn't here then nobody can stop Harry.  
There's so much violence surrounding his life, swathing him in bloodbaths and repercussions of  
outbreaks. It's such that he never imagined he' be able to handle all this yet here he is, feeling most  
secure with it.

He's almost......numb.

How many deaths have there been at the hands of the twins? _He_ should know. It's also not a  
mystery that the twins will be around for a very long time and this will be a constituent of their  
stable by dysfunctional relationship.

"Harry!" Louis screeched, much more desperately than the spiteful half of him would have liked.  
The jerk had still insulted him and he'd appreciate some revenge.

Harry stops this time. The writhing of a terrified victim stops and everything goes silent, dead as he  
is. Harry sits back on his haunches, still astride he who he'd attacked so viciously. Blood dribbled  
down onto the tar and dried on Harry's pale knuckles, giving life to the instruments he used to take  
it away.

"We don't need this kind of attention, Harry." Louis says to him, taking a back when the man  
advances on him.

He's so _sinister_ in the way his personality appears sharper than Edward's filed teeth, his fists  
deadlier than a gun and mind swarmed with all the ways to gut a person. Harry's smirk broke   
through when he had Louis crowded in the same spot they were in before, looming over him with  
narrowed black eyes.

"It's _Halloween_-" Harry reaches for the tab on Louis' pants. "-and I'm not done with you,  
petal."

With that, Harry didn't allow Louis to think more about what he'd just done. He blocked out sight  
and sound as he stripped Louis of his pants in a more hurried fashion, tying the legs around the  
boy's waist so it need not touch anywhere public.

"You were so good for me, baby." Harry mumbles unintelligibly in Louis' clammy neck, pushing his  
underwear down to his one ankle and forcing his legs to wrap around him.

The air was so cold but Harry was radiating the perfect kind of heat to keep them both warm.  
Harry's breath is stuttering and humid, adding to the thickness of the air and sweat on Louis' nape.  
Louis closed his eyes and gripped the man's shoulders with his blunt nails, losing himself to the  
parade of sensations going wild within him.

Harry sneaked a hand behind Louis' body and poked relentlessly at his hole, each time knocking the  
wind from the boy's lungs. Louis wished more than anything to see what he looked like down there,  
probably still loose and puffy because his boyfriends had no time to worry over being gentle. He  
loved them so much for it.

Blood was dabbed onto him where Harry's palms were wet with it, tearing up whatever fears Louis  
had when Harry spat in his hand and grabbed his own length.

"Gonna fuck you." Harry sounded animalistic, desperate for the warmth of Louis' internal embrace.  
"Gotta tell me if it hurts, baby. Never wanna hurt you, petal."

This small victory makes Louis moan loudly and close his legs around the man, hiking his own  
knees up higher and letting blood flow to the right place. Harry coated his erection in the poor  
excuse for lubricant that was blood and spit, reminding Louis for an eternity just who was in this  
alley with.

Louis turned his head at just the right moment and Harry's mouth surrendered to his, a smaller  
tongue invading those parts of him where his taste lie. Harry pressed him against the wall more  
firmly, looking down between them to watch himself disappear into Louis' clenching body. He  
hissed when he bottomed out, hugging his petal and burying his face in his shoulder.

That body lay dead on the ground, abandoned and alone in its last moments. Louis got to look upon  
it everytime he was brave enough to open his eyes, otherwise occupied by the fullness of being torn  
apart. His hidden subconscious, that which had pushed him under and locked him there, resurfaces  
again in its bloodthirsty state.

He doesn't feel an ounce of anything when he sees that corpse. His body is Harry's and that's all he  
notices, turning his chin up at the dead and tangling his thin fingers in his lunatic lover's hair with a  
loud gasp. It was drawn-out and breathy in Harry's ear, sensitive muscle finally ready to be held up  
and fucked into.

"Shirt up." Harry grunted as he bucked his hips, slapping skin on skin and holding himself up.

"Now, petal."

Louis breathes raggedly, nodding eagerly and pulling his shirt up to just under his arms. Lips lock  
onto his unbitten nipple and Harry feeds from him nothing but essence, the charge of their madness.  
He screams into the night and begins to feel the price he must pay for not waiting for his body to  
heal. It's a subtle throb between his shaking thighs, where Harry's hands leaving red streaks across  
his alabaster skin.

Harry secured his hips and messily thrusted upward whenever he felt close but that dissipated and  
he was alone with his petal on Hallow's Eve.

"You're looking aren't you, baby?" Harry knew Louis could see the smashed face of his most recent  
victim. "I'd do that for you, petal. Just you."

Louis peeled his eyes away from the mess on the ground and looked into Harry's predatorial gaze.  
"Love you, Daddy."

The other's smile grew into a grin, stilling his rhythm for just a moment. He kissed Louis' forehead.

"My beginning." His lips pressed against Louis' chin. "My end." Louis' lips at last. "I love you,  
petal."

  
* * * * *  


"A tattoo?" Edward repeats, smiling as he stood up and got his card back from the bartender. "Let's  
go then."

"No!" Louis whined, still in adamant protest of this decision.

He does _not_ want Harry getting a tattoo if he's the reason. There's also the reason of his very  
sore lower half and that leading to a hatred of all physical activities.

"I assure you, petal-" Edward does him the mercy of crouching so Louis can fit onto his back. "-  
when my brother's made a choice there's no changing it."

Louis fights the one o'clock freezing breeze by burrowing into Edward's jacket. "It's a silly choice."

The tattoo parlour is crowded with people who are ready to make awful decisions that they will  
regret two days from now. Harry holds the door open for Edward and essentially Louis,  
immediately going to a guy with a corner booth who looked extremely bored. The most ironic thing  
is that he didn't have a single tattoo under that white vest of his, but seemed to know Harry from  
probably previous visits.

"You've come here before?" Louis asks, scanning the room a little tiredly.

"Many times." Edward stood up straighter and jerked Louis' whole body when he made him more  
comfortable.

Harry shouts his explanation and reason for being here into the tattoo artist's ear, ignoring the  
stream of people that were here before him. Louis sniffs and frowns at the mixture of smells in here.  
Ink. Leather. Skin that's been abused by friction.

"How does your bum feel, petal?" Edward asks, a lot on the smug side of things.  
Louis blushes and pointlessly nips at Edward's earlobe. "It's _fine_."

"I doubt it." Edward's thumb presses more red bruises into Louis' delectable thighs. "You and him  
were in that alley for a long time."

"Yeah." Louis brings order to some of the untidy spikes of silver hair on Edward's head. "Could you  
be jealous, Edward Styles?"

"Of course I would be, petal." His human mode of transport chuckles, angling his neck to kiss Louis  
for as long as he can. "I grieve any moment I'm not with you."

Louis stares at him without enough coherence to put a decent reply together. Edward stops  
expecting any response after thirty seconds and settles for another meaningful kiss.

"What do I say to that?" Louis asks, eyes closed and words whispered.

With a small bump of nose to cheek, Edward gets to see his favourite colour in the whole universe  
when Louis opens his eyes.

"I can promise to stay." Louis presses his lips to Edward's ear, wanting only him to hear him. "I  
promise to stay."

Edward finds himself shaking his head. "No you don't, petal."

"What?" Louis pulls away disbelievingly.

"You can't stay." Edward tries to bring him back.

It's in vain because Louis pushes him away and steps onto his own spoiled shoes. There's an  
emotion Edward can't read against the dozens that he _can_.

"I'm bluffing, petal." Edward finds it very amusing when Louis just _does not._  
"Ugh." Is all he hears of Louis before the boy glares and stomps off in Harry's direction, a small  
storm.

"Louis!" He calls after his love and follows in the path he made amongst the people, grabbing  
Louis' arm as soon as he can. "Baby, listen-"

"Don't." Louis frees his arm and looks up at Edward fiercely, eyes redder and glowering. "How can  
you say stuff like that and find it funny?"

Edward's frowning and about to defend himself, explain that it was a test in his head to see if Louis  
will react the way he craved. "Petal-"

"I've given up a lot to be with you and if you don't think I can stay then-"

"Shh." Edward grabs Louis into a net of his arms and jacket, cradling the back of his petal's head  
and realises the damage he could have done. "Shh, baby. I didn't mean it. I'm sorry, petal. You're  
ours. Always."

Louis hiccups into Edward's shoulder and holds onto him too, scrunching up his nose at how foul  
they smell.

He didn't appreciate the bluff on Edward's behalf. It wasn't fair. With a blocked nose and scratchy  
throat, he forgives him anyway. There's a part of him that belongs to the twins and away from it, his  
survival chances are limited to none.

"I got you a gift." Edward disturbs their silence with. "Two, actually."

"I don't care." Louis nuzzles Edward's chest. "I'm mad at you."

Hoarse laughter fills his ear. "Oh my sweet boy, I certainly do love you more than I should."  
"I know." Louis murmurs, eyes on where their shoes were locked together. "I love you more than I  
should too."

Harry getting a tattoo is the most tranquil thing Louis has ever witnessed, while he forgot that the  
man already had over forty ink stamps and chewed on his thumb anxiously.

"Does it hurt?" Louis asks, folding his arms across his tummy and feeling a burn in his chest. He  
really needs some sleep.

"Hardly, petal." Harry replies as the artist wipes excess ink off on a towel before continuing with a  
flat buzz.

"Is he lying?" Louis now turns his head up to question Edward, who quickly breaks into laughter.

"No, pup." Edward pats Louis' hip and keeps him against his side. "In fact....-"

"No." Louis _knows_ where this is leading. Damn these brothers and their high pain threshold.

"Do it." Harry disagrees, sharing a look of encouragement with his brother.

"Don't do it." Louis says more sternly. "Edward."

"I'm done." The artist announces, turning to the older Styles twin. "You next?"

Louis wants his wave his arm around because it's evident that he can't be seen. Harry gets off the  
adjustable couch chair and Edward smoothly takes his place. He passes Louis a wink that crushes  
the boy's resistance and makes him smile.

Harry shows the new ink to Louis who doesn't understand a damn thing that's written there so he  
has to explain. "It's Persian."

how deep did this relationship  
go? They're getting bloody _tattoos_ before dawn the day after Halloween. When did this  
happen in his life? Why isn't he all for the excitement of whims and impulses when that's what he  
wanted always?

"I'm getting one." Louis clears his throat.

Everything goes dead except for the tattoo machine that's piercing Edward's skin to leave an ink  
trail behind. It'll be his first tattoo, made at one in the morning when he's exhausted and his feet  
hurt.

Edward is the first to grin, dagger teeth on for show. "Good boy, petal."

Harry gives Louis a kiss on the cheek and Louis feels a little _relieved_ that they're in support  
of his stupidity. He honestly can't wait for Edward's matching tattoo to be done so he can go,  
already prepared with what he wants written in the same language around the same finger.  
That excitement dims just slightly when it's his _actual_ turn to sit in that chair. He feels more  
nervous than when he had a university dissertation back home.

"Go on then." Edward nudged him onward with a hand on his bum, making Louis squeak.

"What do you want?" The artist asks and Louis leans over the table to whisper it in his ear, doing an  
excellent job because the twins are gravely unhappy when he pulls away.

His legs are folded on the chair and he can't look when the alcohol wipes are rubbed over his entire  
finger. When needle touches skin, breaking at least three layers to leave black ink behind, Louis  
bites his lip and focuses his attention on something other than his desire to scream. The pain peaks  
and subsides, repeating the pattern as his hand is turned and fingers curl tightly inward.

Pointedly ignoring the twins works up until Harry takes up his right hand between the encasing of  
both his hands, silently offering an outlet for the pain.

_Finally_ it ends and he gets his hand back to assess the quality of the tattoo artist's  
handiwork. He finds himself very pleased and while Edward pays the bill for it, he carefully falls  
more and more in love with this new mark. It's in a neat scribe and pure black ink against his pale  
finger emphasises it.

خودمانی

"What's it say?" Harry enquires, peering over Louis' shoulder at the writing with a small wrinkle at  
his hairline when he tries figuring it out.

"I've forgotten." Louis says dismissively, standing up. He's still so in awe of the fact that he just sat  
and got a tattoo. No regrets yet.

Harry looks at him, humour lighting up the green of his emerald eyes. "I see."

"Since you can't have 'petal', what does yours say?" Edward rejoins them, tucking away his wallet.  
"He won't say." Harry answers with a disgruntled huff.

"He will soon." Edward passes a look of suggestive notions, otherwise well composed.

  
* * * * *  


"What is it, petal?" Harry is most perplexed mentally by Louis stubbornness, even now at three in  
the morning when they've just finished showering.

Louis has not been allowed to put clothes on because Edward went down to the front desk to pick  
up whatever 'gift' he ordered for the boy. He perches himself on Harry's bare abdomen in a graceful  
straddle and giggles.

"Petal." Harry secures Louis' waist with his hands, lying flat against the pillows with a brightly  
amused boy on him. "Tell me."

"It's nothing special." Louis flexes his finger where the tattoo was, no longer bandaged so as to keep  
sweat from developing.

"Of course it's special." Harry sits up against the headboard and Louis slides onto his lap. "Don't  
make me beg."

"Okay." Louis sighs and closes his fist except for that one finger. "It says 'Theirs'."

Harry's face splits into a dimpled thousand watt smile. One can never tell how easy it is for him to  
flip switches. "Really?"

Louis nods with extra heat in his cheeks, getting crushed against Harry's hard torso. "You're  
squashing me."

Harry just hugs him tighter, squeezing more of his affection into Louis' little body. Louis smells like  
fragranced body gel and no longer the faint scents of alcohol, of rust from animal blood. He lands  
on his back when Harry rolls them over and connects their fingers, freshly made black rings that  
were permanent.

"My sweet petal." Harry presses his face into Louis' soft tummy. "You are ours."

Louis knows that. He knows it better than he knows if he'll see the next day or anyone other the  
twins ever again.

Edward returns to their room with a white rectangular box across both hands, the hotel's logo  
printed on the lid. He shuts their door soundly and walks in on Harry saying incomprehensible  
things into Louis' bare belly button.

"Ready to confess then?" Edward handed the box to Louis, the lid almost falling off when his hand  
grips it too tightly.

The contrast of black flesh ink on white cardboard catches Louis' eye when he sits up, face within  
inches of Edward's. "Mine?"

"It is." Edward doesn't let him have it just yet. "Your secretive tattoo?"

Louis sticks his bottom lip out. Revealing the magical word to Edward brings an equally flawless  
smile to his face, which means Louis gets a hard kiss that bruises his lips and leaves them parted.  
Air sweeps in and out of his mouth when Edward pulls away smirking.

Uncapping the box, Louis sets the flimsy lid aside and stares down at two neatly folded T-shirts.  
Both are crisp clean and white without a speck of dust on them. He loves them already because he  
loves T-shirts but there has to be a catch about these ones.  
He discovers it after holding up one to fall open.

Where there would normally be a breast pocket, something has been _embroidered_ \- not  
cheaply printed. Louis brings it closer to read the cursive script, gasps at the scandal and picks up  
the other one to find something similar.

"Edward!" He looks up with a crooked eyebrow and rounded lips, that blush still present.  
"Do you like it?" Harry asks, muffled by Louis' warm skin.

Louis runs his fingers over the writing, feeling the bump of such soft cotton meeting the stitching.  
The first one he lifted read _'Daddy E'_ and the second _'Daddy H'_. He's favouring the  
fine thread of white cotton, if anything, or is at least trying to convince himself of that.

"I love them." Louis confirms, unfolding the first one and slipping it on so it flowed down to his  
milky thighs.

Edward is pleased. He smiles and stretches across the discarded, strewn tissue paper to kiss Louis  
on the forehead. "I-"

"Louis!" Comes a deafeningly familiar voice from outside, a heavy fist banging on the door. "Louis  
William Tomlinson, if you don't open this door I will fucking climb through the window!"

Chest pounding, Louis fails to monitor his heartbeat. "Damn it, Niall."


	34. Chapter Thirty-Four

**"Louis!" Comes a deafeningly familiar voice from outside, a heavy fist banging on the door.  
"Louis William Tomlinson, if you don't open this door I will fucking climb through the  
window!"**

**Chest pounding, Louis fails to monitor his heartbeat. "Damn it, Niall."**

***NARRATOR'S POV***

Louis looks up at Edward as he scrambles off the bed on his way to answer the door. He could  
answer it all in the same amount of guilt that he can have if he ignored it. He won't ignore his best  
friend.

"Petal." Edward grabs Louis by his waist and their faces end up millimetres apart. "Pants. Now."

Blushing at his indecency, Louis chooses a random pair of sweat pants to tug on under his newly  
gifted and customised white T-shirt. Harry simply crawls back to lie against the pillows, a new  
cigarette between his lips and one knee bent in the air.

Louis twisted the door handle and immediately everything that is tranquil about a hotel room is  
ripped apart by Niall's outrage. "Where the Hell- Louis, you're dead."

Edward finds it hilarious that someone else takes the time to deliver such threats. Of course he  
keeps his back to them and observes everything that's happening on the street.

Niall walks in first with Louis screwing his mouth shut upon seeing two other males follow him in.  
He recognises Liam and sighs heavily at the disapproval evident in his frown, then this other lad  
with quiffed hair and defined cheekbones. Where did he come from?

"Hey, Niall." Louis sheepishly greets his friend with the storm in his bright eyes glaring daggers  
into his soul.

"Don't you dare." Niall kept his voice soft but tone deadly, cornering Louis in the doorway. "What  
the Hell is wrong with you?"

"How'd you find me?" Louis instead asks, genuinely curious as he fidgets with the hem of his shirt.

"What are you doing worlds away from home?!" Niall spits, face flushing with anger. He even  
looks taller. "You have a job you haven't been to and an apartment that's abandoned. A father that's  
in a coma and _me_ who's fucking pissed at you. Why the actual fuck are you in another  
county, Louis?"

"Niall." Louis says calmly, not wanting to lose his nerve at any of those reminders. "I'm off work  
which they know. I'm updated on my dad's condition. I'm not going back to that apartment even if I  
was in Middleston."

"And me? You didn't give a shit to tell me you were taking a bloody road trip somewhere with those  
two." Niall jerks his thumb in the general direction of whatever's behind him.

"You would have objected and I would have went anyway." Louis tries to loosen some of the  
tension.

Niall looks at the ground as he thinks, rubbing his temple. "Fine. Yeah. You're right."

"Exactly." Louis opens his arms and Niall relaxes into them, a well-earned hug for them both. "Are  
we good now?"

"No. Fuck you." Niall doesn't sound half as harsh as he ought to. "You left me."

"And now you found me with not one but two boyfriends. You're welcome." Louis cheekily pats  
Niall's back twice before withdrawing.

"Shut up." Niall grumbles as he pulls away, but the extra pink tint in undeniable.

"Why don't you stay for the rest of the weekend?" Louis proposes. "We were planning on going  
back tomorrow- well, today."

"I'll have to." His friend shrugs and yawns. "The next flight is today in a couple hours."

"You flew here?" Louis briefly glances over Niall's shoulder at the awkward non-interaction  
between officer and criminal. "All three of you?"

"Yeah, Lou. I was worried. Liam also um- found out something he wants to tell you." Niall sniffs  
and Louis nods solemnly, easily catching the drift of what he meant.

"Book a room. Get some sleep." Louis gives Niall one more embrace that he holds onto for a bit  
longer. "I'll see you afterwards."

"Okay." Niall squeezes Louis' shoulders. "And what is that shirt? It's awful."

"Shut up." Louis laughs, escorting Niall across the four foot distance to the door again. "Go on. Out  
you go."

Liam walks out first, a little more than _just eager_ to leave the impeccably unnerving  
attention of anything Styles-related. He passes Louis a brief hug because they're that familiar with  
one another.

"Our room is four doors down the hall." He tells the boy in his ear, smiling to play it off and ignores  
Louis' bewildered expression. "Louis, this is Zayn."

All eyes turn to the newbie in their somewhat unconventional clan of enemies and best friends.  
Louis feels an arm snake around him and knows exactly who it is from the twins by the gentle  
rhythm of stroking fingers over his hip bone.

"Nice to meet you." Louis gets to shake Zayn's hand once before leaning into Harry's side, a whiff  
of nicotine entering his lungs. 

"Yes." Zayn isn't too impressed with the boy Niall gloated, complained and fused about. He's under  
the arm of a serial killer and that's unacceptable. "Likewise."

Louis notices the change of welcoming demeanour and finds it a little amusing. He let's Harry  
squeeze his waist and lower his mouth to the side of his neck, grey smoke leaving the pass of his  
lips like fog pressing against Louis' goosebumps. Possessiveness is his best trait.

"Zayn!" Niall calls from the hallway, rendering a giggle from Louis and _that_ brings a  
specialised smirk to Harry's face.

Zayn turns on his heel and leaves, shutting the door harshly and not missing the way Harry presses  
Louis up against the wall.

"Nah uh." Edward intervenes when Harry starts kissing Louis' hot throat, tasting his own cigarette  
smoke. "Petal needs to sleep."

Highly amused, Louis manages to detach Harry from his shoulder-neck junction and step away  
from the steel cage of human muscle locking him in. Edward smiles when he sees him yawn, hardly  
concealed behind his fist as Louis climbs under the messy sheets to close his eyes.

There's a weight of another person lining up with his back and judging by the lack of smoke, Louis  
knows it's Edward. He finds his comfortable spot between Edward's shoulders and under his chin,  
nailed to the mattress by heavier limbs overtaking his own. Half his face was buried in the pillow,  
one eye only available to watch Harry crawl in as well minutes later.

"Go to sleep, petal." Harry kisses Louis' forehead because that's all he can reach.

Louis at once seals his eyelids and hides in Edward's magnetic hold once again, a rare kind of peace  
flooding his insides as he calmly slips under into a slumber.

  
* * * * *  


"I don't like him." Zayn states, cold as ice, from where he's seated on their single bed. They really  
need to stop living in hotels.

"Who?" Niall doesn't bother to brush his hair after his shower and walks out of the bathroom in  
boxers.

"Your friend, Louis." Zayn waits for a reaction, and gets none. "He's a bit shady, ducky."

Niall laughs as he throws his pants and shirt over Liam's on a desk chair. "Shady is _not_ the  
word for Louis."

"Is he worse?"

"He's better." The blond climbs up beside him. "What's the matter all of a sudden?"

"I dunno. I just-" Zayn frustratedly rakes through his dark hair. "-it felt _wrong_ to be in that  
room."

Liam listens silently as he moves about the room, double-checking the windows and doors.

"You've been arresting bad guys all your life." Niall says quietly, a little insecure. "Louis' been  
rehabilitating them."

"Is _that_ rehab, Niall?" Zayn cries, hand flying in the direction of the room they came from.  
"Hey now." Liam interrupts. "Don't get angry at Niall for something Louis did wrong."

"What is going on?" Niall asks to no one, throwing his arms up. "Louis' not doing anything wrong."

"Weren't you just pissed because he left you and all his responsibilities behind?" Zayn makes  
himself sound a thousand times less desirable.

"Yes and even then I knew his reasons. I was angry and that's it. I'm not judging him."

"Well I am." Zayn gets up. "The twins are absolutely fuckin' insane and he's sleeping with them."

"Why does it concern us?" Liam asks again, pulling back the comforter. "It's his own thing if that  
relationship goes downhill."

"It matters to me. He's my best friend, whether or not his two boyfriends are spawn from the  
craziest man in Middleston history."

"Niall." Zayn admonishes like he's a child. "All I'm saying is that I don't like him and I especially  
don't like the twins."

"Well too bad." Niall retaliates with narrowed eyes. "You haven't seen him with the twins and you  
haven't seen what he's been through. I, and only _I_, have the right to be angry at Louis."

Not Zayn or Liam can get a word in edge wise because it's like a dam has broken and Niall can't  
stop now.

"I'm sorry I dragged you two here and I'll pay you both back for the tickets if that's what you want,  
but I don't regret coming." Niall is standing up and pulling on his pants before someone can stop  
him, eyes stinging but his emotions keeping the tears clogged. "Louis would do the same for me and  
I'm not going to hold the fact that he's with the twins against him."

Everything falls silent as Niall shoves his feet in his laced shoes, smashing the tough backing.

"Where are you going?" Liam finally asks, his actual tiredness showing through his front of  
superiority.

"Over there." Niall motions towards the hall and essentially, Louis and the twins' room. "If they  
don't answer me I'll sleep in the hallway but I can't come back here right now."

"Niall!" Zayn rushes to the door when Niall leaves it swinging, just missing him when he stretches  
out his arm for the boy.

  
* * * * *  


Edward hears a knock on their door at a moment past the time he settled down into a sleep. His  
body was exhausted even if that didn't show, finally getting to rest after both Louis and Harry have  
fallen asleep as well. He doesn't want to wake up and check who it is so he waits, but they knock  
again and this time Louis wakes up.

"Who is it?" His petal turns around in his arms to ask.

"I don't know, petal." Edward wants to block out the interruption but apparently Louis seems to  
sense something's off and goes to answer it himself.

Upon opening the heavy door that slides silently across a thick carpet, Louis reveals an exhausted  
Niall standing on the other side without a shirt.

"Hey Lou." His friend greets, wry and meaningless smile on display.

"Niall." Louis ushers Niall into their room because it's cold and he's got such a lazy mate for a  
friend. "What are you doing?"

"Couldn't sleep." Niall pushes his falling fringe back. "Can I bunk here?"

"Sure." Louis doesn't even hesitate. "We can sleep on the floor together."

He's not sure if Edward will cooperate but he'll just have to convince him to lay off for now if the  
man doesn't.

"Petal?" Edward's shifting off the bed and Louis can no longer hide them in the darkness of the  
doorway.

"Come on." Louis loops his arm through Niall's and drags him deeper into their room. "Harry's  
asleep so we have to be a little quiet."

Edward appears like a sleepy version of sex on legs in front of them, a displeased frown already on  
show. "What are you doing?"

"He's staying here." Louis replies coolly, making sure not to easily discard the topic and aggravate  
the man.

"Why?" Edward asks shortly, but doesn't so much as even look at Niall.

Louis sighs and releases Niall's arm to excuse himself and Edward for a small segment of  
explanation. Edward is willing enough to come with him into the doorway again where it's dark  
enough hide amongst the shadows of the wall closet.

"Please?" Is what Louis says first, clasping his hands together over his tummy.

"Please what, petal?" Edward puts a hand on the wall over Louis' head, blocking him and also  
leaning against something for a while.

"Can he stay?" Louis looks into his eyes in earnest. "I know the room is small but something must  
have happened and it's most likely because of me. He's my best friend, Daddy, and I can't say no to  
him now."

Not in the mood or right frame of mind regarding his energy reserves, Edward exhales loudly and  
finally nods. Louis thanks him - because he _knows_ how close he was to being denied - with  
a kiss to his cheek.

When he makes to help Niall set up a fake bed structure, Edward takes his wrist. "You're still  
sleeping in the bed."

Louis' shoulders sag as he deflates. "But-"

"No." Edward puts his finger to his lips, finally the black sparkly re-establishing itself in his eyes.  
"No arguments, petal."

"He'll be-"

"What did I say?" Edward grows harsher in manner, looming over Louis' shorter form. _"No  
arguments."_

Aware that there's no winning this debate, Louis nods and steps around Edward with a shuffle. The  
man doesn't move an inch to let Louis pass and almost brings the picture frame down when he pins  
Louis against the wall. It was so sudden that Louis' head spins from the fast motion, gasping when  
his hands are held above his head and a pair of familiar lips meet his pulse.

"You're mine." Edward's teeth sink into the beating throb, painfully going as deep as he wants.  
"Remember that, petal. You will _never_ sleep in someone else's bed."

  
* * * * *  


"Hey, Lou?" Niall turned onto his side, as did Louis so he could communicate with him.

"Hmm?" Louis responded from under Edward's naked arm wrapped like titanium around his middle  
under his shirt.

Niall was on the floor, looking up at Louis who had scooted as close to the edge of the bed as he  
can. "You're not like....mad that I did this, right?"

Louis blinks to wake himself up a bit more, then smiles. "I really appreciate it, Ni. No one's a better  
friend than you."

"Thanks, Lou." Niall laughs when Louis sticks his hand out towards him. "You're a shit friend  
though."

"I know." Louis rolls his eyes, tightening his fingers between Niall's as they lay suspended in the air.  
"I'm sorry."

"It's okay." Niall tugs on Louis' whole arm. "Someone has to be the responsible one."

"Go to sleep." Louis encourages, speaking lowly so as not to disturb the sleeping beasts of men  
behind him. "We can talk when you wake up."

"Have you got lots to say?"

Louis can only manage to facilitate a smile, a weak and exhausted one that emphasises the bags  
under his eyes all the more. "I've got plenty to say, Ni."

His sleep extended over a full eight hours as his body spent the time replenishing what was utterly  
drained about his reserves. Niall was a restless sleeper but it didn't bother anyone that he tossed  
about every two minutes, deep in sleep but still moving.

Harry woke up to his body sprawled across a semi-empty mattress, only his brother was beside him.  
As much as it was a pleasant sight to admire Edward in all his peaceful glory, he wondered where  
their petal was up until he heard hushed voices in the brightly lit bathroom.

Louis and Niall have been awake since their body clocks woke them up and escaped to the space of  
the bathroom where they chatted about everything they had to. Both of them sat on the bathroom  
counter, feet propped up on the lip of the bathtub while they shared a fruity drink from the mini bar  
under the television.

"Really?" Louis sets the can down as silently as possible, not rustling their crisps packet as much as  
he normally would. "He did that?"

"Yup." Niall tries not to laugh at a drastic volume level, nodding as Louis giggled. "Didn't even  
warn me first."

"Wow." Louis coughed behind his wrist and flicked his fringe out of his forehead. "I'd never have  
survived."

"Oh _please_." His amused friend nudges him. "I bet the twins do worse."

"They actually don't." He shrugs honestly, offering Niall a chip that's flavoured like some oddly  
named chutney. "They're really sweet."

"Doubt it."

"Yeah me too." Louis laughs at his own humour, his companion joining in soon after rolling his  
eyes exasperatedly. "Jokes aside, Ni."

"Hmm?"

"You're good though, yes?" Louis' arm circles Niall's shoulders and implores for want of honesty.  
"They're not giving you a hard time, are they?"

"No." Niall answers truthfully, swallowing what he chewed. "I mean....it's hard on its own  
sometimes."

"What do you mean? The relationship?"

"Aha."

"Well yeah." Louis crosses his ankle on the porcelain support structure's edge. "It's hard for every  
relationship, with two or ten people."

"No I know but-" Niall sighs and puts his head on Louis' shoulder. "-feels like too much, I guess?  
Like there's double the expectations."

"That's the beauty of it, my friend." Louis offers him another chip. "They don't actually expect twice  
as much, nor should you expect twice as much from them."

"What if it's not enough?"

"Then, Ni, you do what you'd do in a regular relationship."

"Break up?"

"No." Louis actually scoffs. If he _had_ \- or wanted - that option with the twins they'd be far  
away from each other by now. "You figure it out together."

"When um-" Niall rubs his eye. "Zayn doesn't like you."

Louis already knows this. He's not been through criminal study and the highest level of psychology  
tuition for nothing. "Why not?"

"The twins." Niall sticks his chin out in the direction of the closed door that led to the bedroom.  
"Thinks you're crazy for being with them."

"I am crazy for being with them." Hugging his knees to his chest, Louis' back hits the wall behind  
him. He weakly shrugs. "Fortunately, crazy seems to work for us."

"Wish I'd said that." Niall's brilliant smile makes Louis feel a lot at ease, like old times.  
"Is that why you came here this morning?"

"Yup."

"Oh Ni." Louis folds one leg under the other, enveloping Niall in an awkward side hug. "I'm so  
sorry."

"Hey." Niall pats Louis' locked arms. "We're still good. I've just...- They're all I've seen for the past  
three or four days and I needed a _break_."

Louis tightens the muscles in his arms, bringing Niall closer by a smidgen and sighing. He's  
comforted infinitely by his best friend's presence and it soothes parts of him he didn't think were  
inflamed with irritation.

"You'll be fine." Louis assures him with yet another squeeze of his shoulders. "I know you will."

"_We'll_ be fine." Niall corrects. "We both have things to look forward to on the other side of  
that door."

  
* * * * *  


Niall has returned to his room as begrudgingly as he could. Louis had walked him back to where the  
door stood a little open four strides down to the left. His friend was reluctant to go in but Liam  
walked out for whatever reason that switched to concern over his duckling instantly.  
Louis jogged back down the hall to his own room before anything could happen between Niall and  
Liam that he'd get roped into. He shuts the door behind him just to make sure.

"Had fun?" Harry is sitting up in bed, totally unimpressed with being ignored all morning by Louis.  
He looked like the most powerful man in the world laying in Louis' bed, tattoos emphasising his  
superior malevolence.

"Very little." Louis buffers his answer as he crawls his way along the mattress length onto Harry's  
lap.

Settling down on the muscular thighs of his less than accommodating lover, Louis can only breathe  
out once before he's rolled over and cloaked by a body so much larger, broader and more  
frightening that his. The eyes that bore into the depths and bowels of his soul were like fire and ice,  
burning but relaxing.

Harry opened his mouth and a small hum of avid appreciation got through to the fine, attentive hairs  
on Louis' nape. He liked _this_. Louis welcoming _him_ into the tender haven that is the  
juncture of his neck where it smelled more and more like them everyday.

Louis' attention should always be on Harry, his _boyfriend._ He should lie like this with his  
knees spread for them to be embraced between or even better.

"You look beautiful in this, petal." Harry pinched a bit of the white fabric from the T-shirt Louis  
wore where it was directly over his nipple.

A faint gasp was heard that made Harry smirk, proud of himself. He forced his arm around and  
lower on Louis' smooth, curved back until his palm was able to massage the plump flesh of his  
bum. Maybe it's become a downright obsession for his hands to gravitate towards that region of  
Louis' perky body but it didn't seem like either had any complaints.

"Lift it up a bit, petal." Harry bit the material of the T-shirt to specify what he meant.

Louis' hands at once find the hem of the clothing item and pull it up over his front, knowing exactly  
where to stop before he's completely stripped of it. Harry's lips, dry from sleep and rough from  
being chapped, circle his nipple without Edward's bite marks and suckles from it. He treats it like an  
actual source of nutrition, closing his eyes and tiny shock waves of pleasure sending vibrations  
through Louis' body.

"Ah." Louis hisses when Harry's teeth get involved, rolling the nub between compacted molars so  
the skin catches on sharp canines and his incisors scrape over the pinkness.

"Like it, baby?" Harry pops off with a pull, an obscene wet sound coming from his lips. "Do you  
like it when Daddy feeds from you?"

It doesn't even _make sense_ coming from adult but it makes Louis' throat close up and his  
ears split into such a red tint that he can feel their heat radiating off his body. 

A deep chuckle later and Harry's face is buried in the contours of Louis' neck again, breathing in his  
sleepy scent. He rubbed the pudge of Louis' tummy and the shower turned off in that bathroom just  
in time for him to start massaging Louis' thighs across his hips.

"Is your friend planning to leave us alone now, petal?" Harry worked his fingertips into Louis'  
muscle, feeling the grooves of bone and shifting of tissue.

Louis snuggled into Harry's side and kissed his bicep, the man's arm encircling his head so their  
fingers could connect. "Be nice, Daddy."

"I can hardly _be nice_ to anyone who threatens to take your attention away from us." Harry  
points out with a clearing of his throat, the extra gruffness of his voice adding to the serene morning  
moment.

"You can try." Louis murmurs, an innocent smile being suppressed by his lips.  
Harry looks down an inch or two at him, his own smile revealing the pointy tips of his canines. "I  
certainly can for you, petal."

The world got a little more homely in those few seconds and Louis found himself leaning up to  
nuzzle Harry's jaw. He, in return, got a gentle kiss to the corner of his eye and a lingering, harmless  
scrape across his knee.

"Good morning, petal." Edward walked out of the bathroom freshly shaven and smelling like musk.

He walked past them to the closet where their bags were dumped, no care for creasing silk and  
cotton. On his return trip, there was fresh clothing draped over his shoulder that he dropped onto the  
bed with his towel. All the dips and ripples of his addictive physique are revealed after that,  
catching Louis' eye out of his peripheral.

Edward had what Louis calls 'the right kind of abs'. They didn't make an appearance unless they  
were flexed a certain way, the three levels of tough skin building up when he bent over, for  
example. Harry had a softer tummy and even though there was undeniably the sturdy back-up of a  
heavy gym-induced structure, Louis could enjoy some mushy-ness.

"Hi." Louis yawned and got freed from under Harry's arm when the man woke up.

Louis' intention switched from fetching an iPhone from the table to crawling over the paces towards  
Edward. The man seated himself on the edge of the bed after his pants were on, and had to hiatus  
putting on his socks when he found a pair of legs circling his middle.

"Petal." Edward greeted again, a questioning crookedness to the curl of his lips as he looked over  
his shoulder.

A chest pressed to his back, cotton dampening on still-moist skin. Louis' legs crossed over Edward's  
front and his arms joined them so that the man was completed imprisoned.

"What's going on?" Edward turns his head at a degree that he could see Louis' reminiscent visage  
turn into a slight pout.

"We're leaving today." Louis walked his two fingers up Edward's arm. "That's sad."

"If you'd like, petal," Edward's hands wrapped around the skin above Louis' petite ankles,"we can  
remain forever on the road."

"No." Louis blew out air loudly with puffy cheeks. "We have to go back and it might as well be  
sooner rather than later."

Edward rotated the upper half of his body a little bit more, straining his back but not stopping until  
he could rest his forehead on Louis' to make the boy giggle or smile at the least.

"So brave, baby." Edward's thumbs rubbed tiny linear patterns on the underside of Louis' feet.  
"Most people would take up the opportunity to run away."

"Don't think I didn't consider it." Louis mocked, changing the inclination of his head so their lips  
were closer. "I kinda miss it too, and my father. I can't leave him there any longer."

"Good boy." Edward pressed a firm kiss on Louis' licked lips. "But I must ask now, where do you  
intend to stay if you hate the Manor?"

Louis shrugged and made an 'uh' sound. "I'll rent-"

"Wrong answer, baby." Came a laughing response as Edward both pulled Louis closer and pushed  
him down onto the bed.

It led to Louis on his back but all the more inevitably held to Edward's chest. This is home ground  
to him now and staring up across an adequately spaced distance into portals of mossy green that  
influenced his mood within seconds, felt more right than when he wasn't.

"Remember the harbour on Wilson's Wharf?" Edward planted one flat palm on the mattress, his legs  
parted so Louis' thighs rested over them.

Before he could continue, Louis started to laugh so abundantly.

"Petal?" Edward didn't catch the drift of a joke and frowned in confusion when Louis didn't stop.  
"Baby, calm down."

"Do you own the harbour?" Louis managed to simmer down and ask politely, bringing his head off  
the bed.

"No, baby." Now, Edward caught the joke. "We own a boat."

The major detail that involved the twins owning anything between a canoe and a yacht didn't seem  
to surprise Louis. "Like a sailboat?"

"Yes." Edward cracks his knuckles. "It has a master bedroom under the deck."  
"What are you suggesting then?"

"I am suggesting-" A set of puckered lips landed on his clavicle. "-many nights spent eating and  
sleeping at sea."

Louis looked at him with empty eyes. Empty for all false pretences but filled with wonder for  
someone who could see past his far less complicated layer of personality.

"You're crazy." Louis' arched his back when Edward fitted both arms under it. "I'm not living on a  
boat, Edward."

"_We_ will be living on a boat and it will be docked at all times."  
"It does sound interesting."

"You'll say yes." Edward fanned his fingers out over Louis' torso and applied a little pressure. "I  
could crush you with this."

Louis choked but not from the words, from the heel of Edward's palm digging into his chest. He  
breathed twice as deeply and fisted the thin bed sheets bunched around him.

Edward's lips found Louis' ear and he spoke into it with a whisper that drowned out any jumble in  
the boy's mind. He paralysed him with his silky voice, riled him up with how gravely he sounded  
with slow, purposeful words. He lined their bodies up and his own pressed painfully into Louis' as if  
attempting to make them one.

"Get used to it." He cradled the back of Louis' head. "Get your body used to needing mine, baby."

  
* * * * *  


"Petal." Harry knocked incessantly on the bathroom door which Louis was behind. "Petal, hurry  
up."

"Are we late?" Louis' voice travelled across Perspex glass to ask.

"We are." Harry sighed, head butting the door as he did so. "If you want to see your friend before  
we leave, you've got to come out now."  
"His name is Niall."

"I don't care very much, baby."

Louis stepped out of the bathroom looking decent for any public appearance. Their petal was  
always so beautiful, from plain nude to covered with colourful clothing. He had on cut-off jeans that  
stopped below his jeans and a tank top.

Harry held up a jacket.

"It's warm outside." Louis commented, self-satisfaction dripping from his tone as he moved around  
the man.

"Change your shirt then." Harry followed him, jacket still on the table of offering.

"Why?" Louis rolled up the phone chargers and put them in a case, tucking away the absent  
Edward's phone into his pocket.

"You're showing too much skin." Louis tripped on a shoe - his _own_ shoe - and Harry caught  
him before an impact with the floor. "Skin that's mine."

Louis is a good boyfriend and in that context he had to assure his eccentric other that all is well. He  
took the jacket but dropped it on the bed, jumping into Harry's arms when the latter tried to retake  
it. "It's just my arms, Daddy."

"You know what my response to that is, petal." Harry held Louis up by his choice of him bum and  
not his thighs.

"You don't care?"

"I really don't." Harry chuckled, a dimple carved onto his cheek. "Change your shirt."

"What about my legs?" Louis didn't obey. He would but he liked to drag things out sometimes.

"Above the knee and I'd have said something." Harry pinched his behind without shame or lack of  
force. "This ass and these thighs are also very much mine."

The rest of their pack-up was quick and Louis didn't see Niall until he walked past their room on his  
way towards Edward who was waiting to escort him to the lobby. He was grabbed by the arm and  
yanked much too harshly into their hotel room by Liam. When he almost tripped, that arm wrapped  
around his front while another covered his mouth.

Edward saw the capture and bolted across the hallway to just catch the door before it shut. He  
pushed past it when someone tried more forcefully to close it, seeing absolute red when he thought  
about giving up on getting Louis back.

Apparently there was already a lot of confusion in the room.

"What the Hell, Liam?!" Niall shouted after he witnessed his boyfriend _not kindly request_  
that Louis meet with them, standing by the window with his arms crossed.

"He wouldn't have come." Zayn tried not to raise his voice in response, sat on the bed with one knee  
bent.

Edward didn't care for them and got Louis out of Liam's hold with brutal integrity that nearly tore  
skin. Louis' heart started to physically _hurt_ with how it thumped so heavily in his throat,  
settling in Edward's embrace.

"He would have!" Niall watched Edward hold the door open unintentionally with his body, kissing  
Louis' temple and saying something to him.

Louis keeps saying he's alright but Liam really scared the screams out of him by just nabbing him.  
He still shivered a little but it was hardly there after a whole minute.

"Louis, we have something to say to you." Zayn tiredly said to the boy who hasn't gotten to turn  
around yet, pinching his nose.

Edward protected Louis by not letting him go, but the smaller male promised that he's fine now and  
turned his body to hear whatever Zayn had to say to him.

"Yes?" Louis ignored Liam when he opened his mouth to quite obviously apologise. "Zayn?"

"Here." Rather than speaking, the man woke up and found a folder on the table which he passed to  
him robotically. "Read over this."

Zayn had looked pointedly at Edward when he said that, spiking Louis' interest. Edward remained  
impassive with a grim expression, arms tightening and never loosening around Louis' body.

"What is it?" Louis swallowed a stubborn lump in his trachea before asking."What's this?"

"Something-"

"Read it on the road, Lou." Niall did something to Zayn's arm that made it turn a little red as he  
stepped past him. "We'll talk when we're all back home."

Nodding blindly but picking at the sticker on the folder, Louis gave Niall a hug with it still in his  
hand and Edward still holding his hips. Liam tried again to get his message across but Louis didn't  
want to hear it yet, and left without a word to him.

"Are you okay, petal?" Edward was erratic and neurotic once they'd stepped out into the hall,  
rubbing Louis' sides and checking over him with wild eyes.

"I'm fine." Louis sniffed and rolled his shoulders in their sockets, stretching what was stiff. "Really,  
I'm okay."

Edward believed him but he still couldn't get over what was boiling inside him. "I could have killed  
him for you. I wanted to, petal."

"I know." Louis laid his lips on Edward's cheek, closing his eyes as he hugged him on his tiptoes.  
"Don't hurt them, Edward."

"I won't, baby." Edward sounded strangled, pained by the restriction. "If he does it again-"

"He won't." Louis interrupted.

"He took you from me." Edward hid in Louis' neck. "He _took_ you from us."

"Daddy." Louis could only muster that lame response. "It's okay. I'm not leaving you."

"Ever, baby. You're never leaving me."

  
* * * * *  


Louis was not interrupted while he packed away what Zayn gave him to read, feeling like it was  
meant to be concentrated on at a time when he's able to take several mental blows at once. He  
climbs into the back-seat with his bundle of blankets and a pillow scrunched up by the opposite  
door, everything remaining silent for the first thirteen minutes of the drive out of Dynasville.  
Scarecrows passed by like the wind and Louis was a little intrigued by them, reminded of a movie  
he watched where a school bus got stuck in the middle of nowhere between fields of sunflowers  
with one particularly terrifying scarecrow.

Edward keeps looking at Louis in the rear-view mirror every five seconds, and Louis caught him  
several times. He couldn't see if Edward smiled back when he did, but he did doubt otherwise.

"Baby?" Edward finally spoke when he noticed Louis falling asleep against the glass of the window.  
Louis jolted awake and sat up straight in his tough leather seat, his hair more than a little  
dishevelled. "Hmm?"

"If you want to sleep you have to do it lying down, petal." He replied, switching from two hands to  
one hand on the wheel.

"I'm not tired." Louis lied, rubbing his left eye as it began to itch.

"Of course." Edward cracked a smirk worthy of the blush Louis displays.

"I'm serious." Louis said through a yawn, leaning forward between the two front seats.

They drive for all of three hours after that which Louis actually catches a nap during and Harry  
drives his phone battery down to the red bar. Edward is content with being quietly in the driver's  
seat, occasionally looking out at everything that's flying by.

Lunch time comes and goes, and Edward passes by every diner without so much as a word of  
warning to his two travelling companions. There's really no time to waste stopping unnecessarily.  
Edward wants to get back home to Middleston as gravely as Louis silently wants to as well.

  
* * * * *  


Their first and only stop is the same motel they stayed in going to Dynasville days ago.  
Edward doesn't take out more bags than one which carries a mixture of clothes for all three of them,  
as it will only be for one night. While Edward takes an extra long shower, Harry proposes that he  
and Louis walk to the nearby food joint to pick up dinner.

"I'm glad it's not cold." Louis says when they're strolling casually in the middle of the street where  
they had a revelation not so long ago, their hands linked no matter how far apart they drifted.

"Would have been nice if it was." Harry follows the white line studiously, finally passing the admin  
office of the motel. "An added reason to cuddle with you."

Louis smiled at the ground. He couldn't believe someone who made himself out to be so broken  
could be so charming. "I'll cuddle with you anyway, Harry."

"I know." Was the man's cheeky response, flashing his dimples. "Petal, do you see yourself in  
marriage?"

"I don't." Louis stares at the man. "Do you?"

"No." Harry grinned at him, a wolf in sheep's clothing in the dead of night amongst the crickets and  
wind. "I asked to make sure."

Shaking his head as he laughed into the chilled but warm air, Louis hopped over a barrier between  
the road and a vacant parking lot of the food joint they finally arrived at. Harry doesn't let him move  
any further than a few feet ahead - as far forward as his arm can stretch - and they walk past the  
doors together.

Harry begins to get impatient while they await their orders of burgers and fries with a pizza to eat  
cold as tomorrow's breakfast. He's got one of Louis' legs across his lap and is drawing over the  
clean shaven skin with a Sharpie to occupy himself.

"Let me see your hand." Harry leaves the marker uncapped as he assesses the tattoo on Louis'  
finger, smiling involuntarily because it made him feel weak and invincible at the same time. "It's  
beautiful."

"Yours is the same, Haz." Louis looks at the flickering light of a refrigerator, curling his finger and  
feeling a slight burn.

"No." Harry lifts Louis' hand to his lips, kissing just below the tattoo twice. "Yours means more  
because it's your first."

"First and last." Louis took the Sharpie from Harry.

"You humour me, petal. We both know it won't be your last."

  
* * * * *  


Louis walked a little ahead of Harry on their trip back and upon stepping into the lot where the  
Rover was parked, he discovered Edward seated rigidly on the floor of the trunk, the heavy door  
open above his head and his eyes heating up when Louis came to a stop in front of him.  
The heat was blinding, scorching and all the things it shouldn't be. Louis' spine made his whole  
body shake when it shivered, his shoe catching on a pothole when he saw what was in Edward's  
hand.

"What are you doing?" Louis forgot about the food and Harry still striding in behind him. His anger  
was pungent. "You went through my stuff?"

Edward held the file that Zayn had given him, the seal broken and the corners creased as he  
probably furiously read through the details. He was livid too, and that unsettled Louis.

"You were investigating us." Edward says rather than asks, and makes Louis feel especially minute  
by passing the file to Harry over his head. "What the fuck, Louis?"

"I am _not_ investigating you." Louis spat. "I don't even know what's in that damn thing!"

"Well it's us, petal!" Edward barks, getting too snarky for anyone's liking as Harry leafed through  
the folder with a frown. 

"It's not just us." Harry chews his lip, looking much more worried over being angry.

"Yeah." Edward was glaring at Louis like he'd killed his favourite pet and Louis' never felt so scared  
in his life. "I know."

"What?" Louis chose to boldly ignore Edward's red rage and ask Harry.

"Shut up, Louis!" Edward looks at him with a flushed face, skin reddening beneath the surface  
where his blood boiled.

"Stop yelling at me!" The boy threw back, just as powerfully. "I didn't do anything!"

"Then what the fuck is this?!" Edward points to where Harry is wordlessly skimming pages, the  
vein in his neck throbbing as it exposed itself. "Tell me, Louis!"

"I don't _know!_" Louis half pleads, honest to God not aware of what's so frightening in that  
damned file. He looks at Harry with his eyes red and stinging. "What's in there?"

Harry shakes his head first, reading line after line with racing pupils that dart from corner to corner.  
Louis feels close to combustion with the irritation that's rife in his tightened system, wanting to  
scream at them for being the most confusing people on the planet.

"It's Dexter." Harry lifted his head, looking at his older brother with something unreadable across  
his face. "It's fuckin' _Dexter_-"

"I know!" Edward bellowed, an echo created through the night air that seemed to make the treetops  
rustle all on their own.

"What? Who's Dexter?"

"You don't know?" Edward looked at him, filled with something akin to pure-bred hate.

"No!" Louis throws his hands up. "That's what I'm trying to tell you!"

Edward goes rigid for a minute while Harry's hands get a little shaky and his bottom lip has to be  
bitten painfully to keep from wobbling uncontrollably. Whoever this Dexter individual is, Louis can  
tell they're very unhappy about him being mentioned at all.

Louis' had enough of their silence and groans before spinning on his heel to stomp off.  
"Petal-" Edward tries.

"Don't!" Louis felt like he had the right - if not _responsibility_ \- to be as upset as he is. "I  
can't believe you didn't listen to me and just started yelling, you big jerk!"

Louis is walking away from him with the packet of food still in his right hand. He didn't look back  
over his shoulder at Edward when the man tried to hold him back, feeling regretful already. He  
shook Edward's hand off and did it again when he re-tried.

"Get off!" Louis struggled when Edward caught him by both arms with a death grip.  
"Petal." Edward emphasised his will that's devoted towards not allowing Louis to leave them just  
yet. "Petal, it's alright."

"No, it's not!" Louis gets those constricting arms off his shoulders and away from his middle. He  
looks up into that black pearls like they're straight from Hell, in fear and admiration. "How could  
you just...._erupt_ like that? You weren't even listening to me!"

"My sweet petal." Edward swallows and Louis notices how his Adam's Apple gets the thickness  
down his throat. "There are some things you have to let us protect you from."

Louis muttered a word of disbelief and tired annoyance, rolling his eyes before returning to his  
departure. "Protect me?! Protect me how?!"

"By keeping you from that place!" Edward grits his teeth, hurting the tips of his molars as he  
grinded down on the sensitive nerves.

"What place, Edward?!"

"The fucking Madhouse!" When Edward's head jerked with his motion to rake his hair back, more  
flopped onto his face and he held on tightly.

"You're _not_ keeping me from my job, Edward."

Edward stops him again, more desperate this time. He looked at Louis like he's a talisman, hard  
eyes clawing at something only the boy could give him. "Please petal. Please understand."

"Yeah really?" Louis couldn't get Edward to _let go_. "You weren't listening to me when I  
asked you to."

"I was a big jerk." Edward riskily tries to introduce some light-heartedness to their conversation.  
"Wasn't I?"

"Shut up." Louis tugs on his arm a little, using it as a distraction so he doesn't have to focus on the  
smile that could be born. "Edward stop it! Let me go!"

"Baby!" Edward shouted, nearly stopping Louis' blood flow when he pins him to an immobile state  
and makes him drop the food to look at him. His eyes are dead set on intense when Louis sees them.  
"You have to listen to me!"

"Why should I?!" Louis' irrational mind makes him spew out something so loud and brash, face  
heating up with all his pent-up aggravation.

"Because, for fuck's sake!" Edward curses himself when he can't get it out, doesn't want to but  
fights every impulse stinging his subconscious. "Because Dexter wanted you first!"


	35. Chapter Thirty- Five

***NARRATOR'S POV***

"Dexter." Edward shuts the door after he pulls Harry into the ancient attic room above the highest  
level, keeping his hand around his brother's wrist. "We're here."

The shadow by the badly tinted window alerts them that they are being heard by the man they came  
to see. Harry doesn't even try to retract his hand because he's not very fond _at all_ of this  
particular man, be him their father or not.

Said shadow moved and Harry kept half his body concealed behind Edward's. He took a deep  
breath, stared at the ground and held it in. Edward raised his chin to be as attentive and unafraid as  
he watched their father step away from the glass panes to turn around.

His face was always a shock, his build and his stature were all mutated, slanted and majorly  
unattractive. Dexter had a shoulder higher up than the other, the muscle build on that slightly  
greater. His body was off-putting in proportion and his facial structure was demeaning.

One eyebrow was slit and one eyelid won't ever close even for blinks. His upper lip was scarred and  
bound to the rest of his skin, his hair permanently dyed red.

The roots were turning white, not grey, and the tips were red in an unappealing combination.  
Dexter's front incisors were sharpened the way all Edward's were. His smile was sickening to any  
strong gut and Edward found himself disrespectfully frowning at their father.

When Dexter opened his mouth, the rest of shredded-sleeve and army pants clothing stays stiff.  
"You came quickly."

Edward feels Harry raise his head and his hand slip down lower so their fingers are interlocked. He  
admired and was a little puzzled by his brother's need for affection whenever their domineering,  
frightening father was concerned.

"You needed us." Edward pushes forward the topic of their presence here.

Dexter steps out of the dark and under the dull fluorescent bulb's lighting right in front of Edward's  
face. The latter doesn't step back despite his urges to, raising his head to keep eye contact and  
partially shield his nervous sibling.

Warm, foul breath was fanned out over his nose when Dexter spoke, a _minor_ lisp in  
comparison to Edward's caused by his whitened tongue brushing the pointed tips of his front teeth.  
"I need you to fetch me something."

Edward's lips curl into a smirk of ideal devious intent. He loves the tasks he's given by Dexter, even  
if they make Harry overly insecure. "Yes?"

"Him." Dexter extracted a crumpled, faded piece of paper from his heavy jacket pocket and shoved  
it in Edward's hand, dry and calloused on over-worked and cut up. 

He peels open the photograph with one hand and pry apart the folded corners with his deft fingers.  
The moisture of the paper has caused obvious ink fading activity but the object of the photograph  
still takes Edward's breath away.

"This one is beautiful." He comments, rubbing his thumb over the prominent cheekbone feature and  
failing to hide his mesmerisation at those _blue, blue eyes._

Dexter's chest releases a dissatisfied growl as he suddenly snatches the photo back. "Mine."

  
* * * * *  


**"Because, for fuck's sake!" Edward curses himself when he can't get it out, doesn't want to but  
fights every impulse stinging his subconscious. "Because Dexter wanted you first!"**

Louis stood stock still in a pin-drop silent parking lot with two pairs of eyes trained on him at  
different angles, antagonising him. He opened his mouth with a twisted frown to say something in  
comeback.

"_Who_ is Dexter, Edward?" Louis asked them slowly, meaningfully with earnest embers  
seeping into Edward's coal black orbs.

Edward was frozen too. He bit his lip and his body relaxed after Louis' question settled in the air.  
"Let's go inside."

"No." Louis shook his head and stepped back when the man reached for his hand again. "You're  
_going_ to tell me."

"Yes, petal. But I'm not going to do it _out here._" Edward opted to be more of a gentleman by  
extending his hand rather than grabbing onto Louis, nevermind the paranoia that's brewing in his  
subconscious. "Come."

Harry slots his palm against Louis' when the offer is made and links their fingers together so his  
band over Louis' thin and shorter ones. Louis briefly glances at him out of confusion but Harry  
seems to be trying to make himself really small and kisses Louis' shoulder without looking up.

"He's bad, petal." Harry mutters cryptically in Louis' neck, pecking the warm skin. "Scary too."

Louis is about to ask about all the awful adjectives being used but Edward insists that they take this  
discussion inside. Harry spends his time trying to burrow into Louis' neck where he felt warm and  
protected no matter where they were. Unfortunately when they're moving he can't do more than  
follow closely behind the boy and hold his hand.

It's so peculiar to Louis how Harry is emotionally traumatised by the mere mention of this Dexter  
character. He chews his lip in thought over it, letting his theories stew over a cauldron while  
Edward locks the motel room door.

"Can you sit down please?" Harry is invading Louis' remarkably small personal space - newly  
founded and shrunk after his first encounter with the twins.

Louis looks up at the man a head taller than him with puckered lips of confusion. "Why?"

Edward simply locks the door and Harry fish mouths with wide eyes. He doesn't _want_ to  
reveal why he needs to encompassing fold of Louis' warm embrace right now.

"You should sit, petal." Edward says as he nears them himself, a step away from joining their closeknit communication. "He needs you to."  
Harry appreciates his brother's low-detail explanation in his favour. He waits for Louis be shortly  
amused, then to kick off his shoes and fall back onto his bed with his back straight up. He crossed  
his legs just in time for Harry's huge weight to collapse onto him.

His gasp is loud and his thighs become a little sore because of the impact of Harry's skull on them.  
He gets settled shortly after Harry finds a comfortable position with his eyes closed and teeth  
latched onto his leg again. Louis cards through the man's hair calmly, giving the little wrinkles at  
the corner of Harry's eye - the one eye that isn't covered by his thighs - a kiss.

Harry is made very happy with the act and he smiles very minutely. He's still worked up by the  
mention of Dexter but seems to be a lot less anxious.

"Tell me what's going on now." Louis says directly at Edward who stood at the foot of the bed, still  
combing his fingers through Harry's silky locks. He can see the white roots returning white again  
where his chocolate ringlets are dying off.

"Okay, petal." Edward sighs and untidies his hair with one hand, still clutching the file Harry passed  
back to him outside.

Harry curls himself up around Louis. He hides in the gap between Louis' thighs and eagerly holds  
onto Louis' middle with both arms in a deadlock. He's _not happy_ with the topic of Dexter.  
He doesn't want it to ever be brought up because his father is terrifying and no amount of exposure  
can ease his horror.

Louis looks down at the man and feels bad for him. He gives that corner of his eye another kiss to  
comfort him before looking back up with an eager but cautious look in his eye. He's in such  
anticipation but ever so afraid of what there is to hear.

"Dexter is-" Edward pinched his lip between his thumb and forefinger. "-our father, petal."  
The air is sucked right out of Louis' lungs as he deflates and his shoulders curl inward. His hand  
stops moving through Harry's curls and he stares blankly up at the man who has told him a  
paralysing truth.

"Father?" Louis repeats. "I thought you said-"

"Our mother had us and married another man. We made a mistake, several of them, and she left us  
too."

"I'm so-" He stops when Edward continues for him, not wanting pity or sympathy.  
"And he asked us to bring you to him." Edward swallows hard, painfully. 

"But we didn't want to, petal." Harry mumbles without raising his head or his voice. "We still don't.  
You're ours."

Edward hears his words and it hardly does anything to settle the beast in his gut that's storming to  
the front of his mind. His forehead creases up with his heavy, brooding frown where his brows are  
knotted together and his fists are clenched violently.

"Wa-_Wanted_ me?" Louis says with a dreadful feeling melting into his veins. "For  
_what_, Edward?"

"Nothing." Edward gets down on his knees and captures Louis' hand, boldly reminding Louis that  
he means to be passionately convincing. "Nothing, baby."

"Well obviously you're lying, Edward." Louis pulls his hand back. His blood is cold with the  
horrifying thought that the twins' father, Dexter, could possibly 'want him'.

"No, baby." Edward shakes his head and looks so vulnerable down there where he's pleading  
something without making a case. "He just....our father is a sick, sick man. However and for  
whatever he wanted you, petal, he's never going to accomplish."

"Where- Why is this coming up? Why was it in the file?" Louis hears the groan from Harry being  
pressed into his tummy. "What does it have to do with anything?"

"I don't know that answer, petal." Edward gets off the floor to crawl up on the mattress, making his  
way closer to his brother and lover. "I just know that we only have one way to keep you safe now."

"Keep me safe?" Louis repeats disbelievingly, utterly shocked into something profoundly confusing.

"Yes." Edward cups Louis' cheek and kiss his lips, all the heart and soul of the emotions he felt  
poured into that act of devotion. "He's a dangerous man, far worse than either of us but he can also  
never leave the Madhouse and-"

"I've never heard of a Dexter in my time there, Edward."

"I know, petal. He's not living there in the conventional way." Edward seems frustrated, the way his  
body radiates heat concentrated in the areas of his physical irritation. "No one knows he's there and  
nobody can ever know, petal."

"What?" Louis folds his hands together between his thighs, Harry's hair getting tangled in the mix.  
"He's...secretly living there?"

Edward solemnly nods and holds out the opened folder to a gruesome photograph of Dexter. "Look  
at him."

Louis waits a minute still staring at Edward's astonishingly vivid eyes, cut raw with this ugly  
revelation. "Okay."

The man in the photograph has distinct features. Unforgettable, nightmare impairing features that  
make Louis gasp out loud without refraining for good manners. He's most nauseated by the fact that  
he can _see_ the twins in this man. The borderline white hair, chiselled jaw line and nose  
structure.

"Harry and I haven't spoken to him since we met you for the second time." Edward continues,  
vaguely meeting Louis' eye as the boy reads on. "We have to tell those friends of yours not to get  
involved in this."

"Yeah." Louis agrees vehemently. "Yeah, okay. I'll talk to them as soon as we're back."

"Good." Edward is pleased to hear Louis not put up a fuss about this, and pulls him in as much as  
he can for a kiss. "Thank you, petal."

Louis smiles but it fades quickly and fails to even venture near his eyes, the life of his smiles  
essentially ruined. "Yeah."

"Also, petal-" Edward keeps his hand folded around Louis' neck, his cold fingers digging into  
supple warm flesh. "-you can never go back there."

Their eyes stay connected across an inch of separation. Louis' fear finding refuse in Edward's mere  
reluctance, the latter being strong enough to comfort the former.

"How can I not, Edward?" Louis whispers, dropping the file on the bed and ignoring Harry when he  
pushes it onto the floor.

"Just stay with us. We can keep you safe." Edward promises, _vows_ with his voice turning  
throaty and desperate. "Promise me, petal. Promise us."

"I-I-" Louis looks down at Harry and how horrible a reaction was triggered from him because of  
_their father._

He's just as - if not thrice as much - scared of what could happen to him when he returns to work.  
The twins were with him for most of the time since he met them and he assumes that's why he's still  
here and not part of some clinically deranged man's personal human collection.

"I won't go for as long as I can." Louis says, worrying his bottom lip with his teeth. "I still have to  
go-go back to campus but I only enough leave to last me a-a week more."

"Stop it." Harry admonishes, unhappy with his petal's nerves taking over, and hugs Louis from his  
low height. "You're going to be safe, petal. You know that."

"Yeah, Harry." Louis tries to reassure him. "I know that."

When he looks at Edward he's still got watery eyes and a cold nose with jittery fingers. The man can  
do nothing more than kiss each of those features and cuddle him in an awkward a position that is  
allowed by all three of them. Louis' legs land up under and over Harry's upper half, his back fitted  
against Edward's torso.

"What do you have to go back to campus for?" Edward asks in Louis' ear, rubbing over his hip with  
a wide palm.

Louis breathes deeply and closes his eyes, focused on soothing whatever generated uncomfortable  
growls from Harry's chest. He's surprised and not burdened to have remembered that a visit back  
home is mandatory is he wants to collect his degree at all.

"Final exam." He replies. 

Edward hums and plants his unmoving lips on the hollow dips of Louis' clavicle, tightening himself  
all around the boy like a man-made shield. Being together felt better, safer for all three of them.  
How can a person be so intimidating, so petrifying without being present?

"Okay." Edward almost crushes Louis' chest with the way he ropes his heavy arms around him.

Louis' got most of his life in order at this point and the dilemma with Dexter seems to have put a  
drastic damper on his peace. He plans to end his residency at the Madhouse and go back home to  
Seattle for the claiming of his degree. The arrangement of his father being moved from this hospital  
to that will soon follow. He hasn't discussed this with anyone because the clarity only recently came  
to him.

"I'm going home." Louis scratches Harry's scalp with his fingernails delicately. "Seattle. Come with  
me."

"Harry?" Edward coaxes a response from his baby brother first. He sincerely hopes Harry consents  
because moving away will put so much of his troubles at ease.

"Seattle." Harry turns his face into Louis' tummy. "I would like to go to Seattle."

"So it's settled." Edward breathes of relief. "We will come with you to Seattle, petal."

Minutes later when the food Harry purchased is about to go cold, Louis finds himself becoming  
mother hen when he's feeding both Edward and Harry with a single plastic fork. The take-out had  
only given them one with their tangerine chicken and spicy rice.

"Stop biting so hard." Louis reprimands Edward when the flimsy plastic spoon threatens to snap in  
his mouth.

Harry stayed on his back, his head on Louis' lap with a warm beer in his hand and lips parted  
whenever it was his turn to eat. Louis should find this amusing, as he would years - maybe even  
months - ago, but he finds it sweet and comforting to have this relationship with the twins.

Louis scoops up more rice and shredded chicken to feed himself, the warmth of the food reheating  
some of himself. He's surprised but also not so surprised that Edward didn't object to being fed like  
a toddler with an unstable utensil. The man looks right into Louis' eyes whenever he accepted the  
offering of food.

"Edward!" Harry cried out when he heard the break in plastic, accompanied by Louis' giggle.  
"Sorry, petal." Edward apologised around a full mouth, feeling for the bits of unsavoury plastic to  
remove.

"Well then." Louis' knuckles caress the man's jaw as he leans forward and pecks his lips before  
sliding off the bed.

"Petal?" Harry held onto Louis' one hip as the other one slipped out of his hold. "Where are you  
going?"

"To wash my hands." Louis displayed those limbs. "We don't have any utensils and I'm still  
hungry."

After returning from the bathroom with damp hands that he wipes off on some item of his clothing,  
Louis crawls onto the bed. Edward becomes the more relaxed of the twins and lies back against a  
palace of dusty pillows with the box television remote in his hand. Harry gets himself situated  
comfortably again which only includes his head on Louis' soft thighs - without any pants on  
obviously.

"This show is disgusting." Louis says about some reality TV show from the current century.

Edward smirks lazily and instead of switching channels from fuzzy to static, starts to work loose the  
hem of Louis' T-shirt. It's a graphic one about Star Wars and dark grey, some of the cotton threads  
already giving way under his fingers.

"If you're not going to eat on your own, you have to cooperate." Louis tells the man who simply  
winks and opens his mouth to be fed.

It's quite possibly the most ridiculous thing Louis' ever done, feeding two grown men with his hand.  
He can't even feed _himself_ with his hand. It is also the most lovely thing he's been part of  
for such a long time now.

"Harry?" Louis uses his clean left hand to brush some of the suspect's hair back, revealing those  
cherry red lips.

Two out of three containers of food are finished by the time Louis ends his feeding scheme. Harry  
all but falls asleep when Louis discourages him, telling him to sit up and pretend to care for the  
reality show on display for them.

Louis stands by the mucky, soap-scum laden mirror for a while longer just to stare at the reflection  
peering back at him. He's changed so much. He's hardly who he was when he first set foot on  
Middleston soil, and it's all due to the two men outside.

Water trickled down his face and dampened the collar of his graphic shirt, leaving it darker like the  
developing bags under his eyes from sleepless nights. The troubles, the drama, the grief. All of it  
was amplified and magnified but there's a new drug just for him to make it all go away. It came in  
the form of green eyes and rough hands.

Today's truth has put a new burden on his slightly hunched shoulders. What's he going to do besides  
run from it? He has no intention of staying to find out how determined the twins' father,  
_Dexter_, is about having him. If it's worse than the twins he won't survive and if it's  
better......well, it simply can't be better.

He abandons the haunted reflection after switching the light off and padding into the bedroom again  
with socks on sticky carpet. What stops him in those tracks would be Harry collecting his hand and  
spinning him around for what he hopes is a solid reason.

"What are you doing?" Louis tries not giggling when he lands safely against Harry's firm chest,  
palms flat and head tilted backward to meet those foresty eyes.

Harry bends down by a couple centimetres and kisses his petal on the lips, their feet slotted together  
and fingers on one hand connected. "Every year at the Halloween masquerade I get to have a dance  
with whoever I want."

Edward shakes his head in amusement but not mocking - he knows his brother and adores him very  
much - as he slides his phone into the fitted charging case. "If you had been there, petal, you would  
have been his choice every year."

With a coo, Louis kisses Harry's cheek and accepts his offer of a dance in spite of a lack of music  
and proper attire. Harry is honoured and kisses Louis' knuckles before he supplies the first  
requirement that is music. He sings in Louis' ear a tune from the 1930's that can't even be available  
be online, but the boy recognises it as the lyrics of Ray Noble.

"I do like this song." Louis says, resting his cheek on Harry's bare skin below his shoulder and  
getting welcomed into the warmth of his embrace.

Harry can't interrupt his debut to his petal to question how this boy can be so perfect and know such  
an ancient song, so he kisses Louis' head and squeezes his hand where he held it up in a formal  
dance position.

"Midnight with the stars and you. Midnight and a rendezvous. Your eyes held a message tender.  
Saying 'I surrender all my love to you.'" Harry sings melodiously in Louis' ear, replicating the music  
legend from almost a century ago.

The music is timeless. Louis can hear the old jazz and orchestra in a ballroom from that time with  
drapes and glittering jewellery. He can close his eyes and hear the crackling of a gramophone that's  
just as old with many stories of its own to tell.

Fortunately the song only has about three verses and Harry stops singing at the very end, his grand  
finale being a chaste kiss to Louis' neck. "How do you know the song?"

"I have a lot of old records." Louis answers, not removing himself from their single unit of two  
people. "You have a beautiful voice."

"Thank you, petal." Harry gives him another kiss. "You'll come to learn that there aren't many  
beautiful things about me."

Louis raises his attention and looks Harry in the eye, smiling shyly and finally coming to a stop in  
their impromptu dance routine where they hardly moved.

"Beauty is a relative term." Louis tucks a stray curl behind Harry's ear, speaking low and intimately.  
"To some people, the stars are beautiful. To others, the moon. To me, it's you."

Harry's expression brightens into something flattered and young, showing his youth amongst his  
features as he suddenly dips Louis. He brings him back up with a laugh and a gentle kiss on the  
boy's lips, silencing the trauma that could build up.

"My lovely petal." Harry frames Louis' face and kisses his forehead. "My loyalty is yours. You own  
me, heart and soul."

Edward finds it in him to intervene when he feels it likely that he'll be included in a dance or two  
himself. It may not be a modern style of waltz or tango but their minds need some TLC.

"May I have a dance?" He takes Louis' hand from Harry's and replaces his brother against their  
petal's warm body.

Harry easily resigns from their make-shift dance floor and sits on the immediate bed, folding his  
legs under his body. He watches admirably as Edward pulls Louis in without the hesitation or  
nerves of a man getting a dance with someone so divine.

Louis grins with pink cheeks up at Edward when he's moving very minutely to an invisible rhythm  
with the man. "I didn't think you danced, Edward."

"Petal, I did not attend those masquerade balls to drink whiskey and aged wine." Edward holds one  
of Louis' hands in line with his right shoulder and raises it when he spins him around, the music  
returning in their heads.

"So-" Louis gets his fingers caught in the unfolded collar of Edward's shirt. "-you danced with  
strangers too?"

Edward could detect that Louis wasn't jealous and it made him proud because their petal had  
nothing to fret about.

"Every year I had experienced dance partners, yes. I would also trade them all-" Edward's chest  
collided with Louis' when he suddenly jerked the latter's body forward, their noses brushing. "-for  
one song with you."

Louis sighs in the purest form of contentment. Nothing pre-existed outside this less than tasteful  
motel room. There'd always be nothing but them and none of their trio could wait a moment more  
than necessary to be in Seattle where the air was industrial and their lives would be extravagant.

"We've never made love." Louis' lack of a verbal filter causes his first thought of just them to drop  
out.

Edward chuckles and drowns it out with a kiss of lips and teeth on Louis' throat. "You do tell the  
simplest jokes, petal."

"You know I'm serious." Louis laughed, deciding that they're now on this topic.

"He is right." Harry fills in, his fingers looping through the waistband of Louis' panties when they  
stop moving. He tugs and plants a chaste kiss on Louis' hip. "We've fucked but never made love."

Edward makes a disapproving sound with the click of his tongue. "I've savoured you and your body  
nonetheless, petal."

"Yes but-" Louis raises himself up on his tiptoes with Harry's hands still on his hips. "-you've never  
went slow, spent hours just _feeling_ before we took anything from each other."

Edward sucks his lip into his mouth, hating himself for not being able to deny the truth. They've  
never made love and that needs to be rectified. How could he let such a thing go unnoticed?

"In that case, baby-" Edward picks Louis up and drops him onto the bed. He strips himself of his  
shirt and the lights go out under Harry's command. "-we'll have to make it up to you."

Edward slots himself between Louis' parted thighs like a snake, his back curved so one side is a  
little higher than the other and body possessively cloaking Louis'. The boy's giggle filters through  
the air and is cut off with a soft choke when Harry's hand surrounds his neck.

Harry connects their lips sloppily, bending at an angle to get enough of the right access. Louis easily  
gives in to the kiss, arching his back to be closer to his lips and cupping one side of Harry's face.  
Edward takes advantage of the new skin shown to him when Louis' shirt raises up the length of his  
sinful body.

Louis' sharp intake of air makes Edward open his mouth and suckle on the skin that's dipping or  
expanding according to the boy's breathing. The man secures Louis' hips and rubs his sides  
comfortingly, lovingly as he kissed savagely the softest spots on Louis' torso. His teeth grazed the  
ribs of Louis' body where they shown through his skin like an exotic design for Edward's maiming.  
Without permission, Louis pushes himself up into an upright position across Edward's lap. His bare  
leg unfolds over the man's thigh and his arm locks around Harry's neck, pulling him all the more  
towards him. Edward looks at him reverently with slightly wet eyes and parted red lips, licking  
them slowly to taste Louis on them.

"Slow." Louis covers Edward's mouth with one finger when the man gets close to tearing the flesh  
of his lips with how eager he is. "Taste. Don't bite."

Edward growls in disdain but allows Louis to be spooned onto his lap, just the lower half going as  
the upper stayed stuck to Harry's chest. Louis' mouth became property of Harry's torture. He moans  
with heartfelt sensuality when Harry's palm presses into his tummy and heaves him up a little  
higher. He ends up on his knees risen at a greater height than both the twins.

Harry kisses down Louis' shoulder and arm, getting more and more breathless. Louis' head bows to  
watch the attention being awarded to his body. Edward's lips make loud smacking noises as they  
work their way up from his naval to his jaw and lips. Louis wraps an unoccupied arm around his  
shoulders and let's the man's tongue into his mouth without fear.

"You taste-" Edward holds the side of Louis' face at his nape and cheek with the width of his hand,  
frown concentrated as he watches Louis' eyes and lips. "-like something that doesn't belong to  
anyone else."

Louis brings his mouth back to Edward's with a little mewl sliding with their tongues' feverish  
dance, his back meeting Harry's newly bare chest. "I'll never belong to anyone else."

Harry hungrily marks up Louis' shoulderblades and neck with red bites and unrelenting gnaws that  
turn alabaster to purple. Louis rolls his own head back and messes up Harry's hair with a long  
sweep through it. Edward's fingers crook and seal around the elastic of Louis' printed panties,  
lowering his whole mass to extricate the piece of clothing. Louis braces a hand on Edward's back  
and twitches physically from those lips on his pelvis.

_"Oh God."_ Louis rolls forward and backward, Harry's arm cruelly caging him in while  
Edward's licks the most sensitive region of the boy's thighs.

Edward parts his jaws of sharp teeth and let's them sink into Louis' pelvic bone where it was closest  
to the tops of his thighs. Shivers ran wild in Louis' veins as he hissed and knotted his fingers in  
Edward's hair, directing and encouraging him. Edward didn't let up until he had extracted all the  
taste he could from Louis' sensational body, modestly pecking the angry redness before moving on.  
Under Louis' palm he felt the heated skin of Edward's back and the muscle that flexed beneath it.  
He scraped his nails over that section which impressed him most to leave his own mark behind,  
Edward's groan of retaliation driving mad shudders through him. 

Harry caught the side of Louis' jaw and crippled him otherwise. He kissed the boy deeply with their  
right legs tangled. Louis keened when his socks were pulled off and Edward shoved Harry aside  
before dropping him onto the mattress.

"Lift your hips." Harry tapped his side and slid a pillow under Louis' bum at once. "Good boy."

Louis liked praise. He smiled when he got it and Harry gave him the reward of a kiss on his belly  
button. Louis' breath hitched in his throat and he spread his legs when Edward crawled up between  
them.

"Shh. Stop." Louis stops Edward from going further and plants himself on his lap again, lips at his  
ear and an elbow on his shoulder as his fingers raked through his hair. "You need to be slower,  
Daddy."

Edward bit down on Louis' neck, gulping down the gasp he hears. "You'll have to teach us, baby."

Louis grins at the instruction, meeting Harry's eye over Edward's shoulder and their lips briefly  
uniting.. "Yes, Daddy."

  
* * * * *  


"Call him if you want to speak to him, Ni." Liam says as they enter Middleston's airport terminal as  
the only passengers without luggage.

"Would he want to talk to me?" Niall takes the man's phone anyway when Liam switches it on.  
"He might-" Zayn starts to say, but Niall knows it can only be a snide comment about his absent  
best friend and pushes him away.

"How about you shut up unless you have something constructive to contribute to this  
conversation?" Niall snaps, at his wit's end with all the disrespect Zayn has to share.

Liam shrugs his shoulders when Zayn looks at him in biased misunderstanding, secretly proud of  
his duckling for not letting Zayn get the upper hand because he feels he's self-entitled.

"Gonna call Louis?" Liam asks Niall, clearing his throat behind his closed fist.

"Uh- Yeah." He snatches up Liam's phone and walks away to a nearby pillar to get privacy.

"Can you not be an absolute asshole?" Liam says to Zayn, his conscience bothered by his  
boyfriend's arrogance.

"I charge more for that, babe." Zayn responds unpleasantly with a wink.

Liam is nonplussed. "Seriously. You have no right to treat Niall or Louis the way you do."

"You've been here longer than me, Liam." Zayn schools his expression when he catches Niall  
turning away from them. "How do you not see the things I do?"

Niall had to turn his gaze away from his bickering boyfriends that were far out of earshot as he  
spoke into the receiver. "I know."

"Do you really?" The harsh voice shot back, aggravated.

"_Yes._ For fuck's sake."

"Careful, my star. It's a simple enough task to bring your friend back here."

"I know but your-" The line goes dead and Niall clears the call log with a sigh. "Bastard."

  
* * * * *  


"I'm here." Niall shuts the door behind him, relaxed only when the old brass lock clicks into place.  
"Sit." Instructs the shadow by the window.

Niall searches for a chair and puts himself in it, under a fair enough amount of light to have clear  
views of the dingy room. All the illumination comes from one dull bulb hanging low in the center of  
the attic room.

"Why am I here again?" Niall leans forward with his elbows resting on his parted knees.

Dexter turns around from his favourite window in the space overlooking the parking lot at this  
terribly late hour. Niall doesn't even flinch at all of the unappealing nature revealed to him. He's  
seen it enough times, up close and personal.

"You said I was done." Niall crosses his arms, running the tip of tongue along the caps of his teeth  
as Dexter's aged boots carried his ancient self over to him.

"I'm never done with you, my star." The next thing to happen is a weight much too constricting to  
be avoided is banded around Niall's waist, hauling him into a private circle with one arm.

Niall sighs when the crustiness of an unwashed jacket has a fateful impact with his Lakers jersey.  
He doesn't even support the damn Lakers. His fingers pick at loose threads on Dexter's clothing  
while he waits for something else to be said.

"Remember when I promised you a toy?" Dexter's fingers, long and bony with no human warmth,  
float effortlessly down below Niall's waistband to grasp him where few got to.

"I don't want _a toy_." Niall's pout makes Dexter guffaw and squeeze him behind a little  
encouragingly. "I want _company._"

"Because I don't seem to be enough for you, my star." Dexter's mouth eagerly finds a path to Niall's  
neck and the dirt of his day lands on the latter boy's skin but there's no cringing or resistance.

"You're enough-" Niall doesn't mind the damp matted feeling of Dexter's hair when he combs  
through it. "-for when I'm in here."

"I know, my star." Dexter sighs dejectedly and locks his arms around Niall's soft hips, kissing below  
the boy's ear. "I already offered better accommodation if you stay here with me."

"Dexter." Niall has learned not to fight when he's being marked below the collar by the teeth of this  
lover. "You know I have pretences to uphold outside."

"With the very person I'm trying to bring in for you."

Niall sighs and settles for inhaling the smell of mud with the faintest scent of musk. "I told you to  
leave Louis alone."

"No." Dexter backs them up and Niall nearly trips over an uneven wooden floor panel before his  
spine hits the wall. "They disobeyed me."

"It doesn't matter now, does it?"

"It does."

"Nah uh." Niall manages to force out from his lips before they're occupied by two more fierce ones.

He moans when the back of his head hits the cold cement wall and he's lifted a little off the ground  
to have his legs around Dexter's waist. The man is bigger against him, more muscular with more  
deadly force that he never uses around Niall. He deepens the kiss with a flick of his tongue and  
Niall tightening his thighs around him until they ache significantly.

"Your sons love him." Niall says, breathless and wide-eyed. "You shouldn't take that away from  
them."

"Have you seen them with him?" Dexter licks over his lips, wetting them before pasting them for  
short intervals all over Niall's clavicle.

"I have." Niall slides a little higher up on the wall. "He loves them too. Very much."  
"Are you asking me to leave them alone, my star?"

"Yes."

Dexter took a moment away from the delicious platform of Niall's body to consider this. An evil  
grin is born onto his face and Niall finds himself rolling his eyes at it, until his much older  
companion slaps his hand on the wall beside his head and brings their faces closer again.

"What are you willing to do for it?" Dexter asks coyly, knowing the answer beforehand.

"I have two other choices. Better ones." Niall replies, thinking of Liam and Zayn. His voice is a purr  
as he lowers his hand to the front of Dexter's jeans.

"Better how, my star?" Dexter plasters himself to Niall's front, nailing them both to the wall  
effectively.

Niall squeezes where his hand was and brings the other one up to be entangled in Dexter's  
outlandish hair. He gasps when the man grinds into him. "They'll last longer."


	36. Chapter Thirty-Six

***NARRATOR'S POV***

The early morning dew started to pick up outside, dropping sparse water on the filthy ground and on  
those who still had to go home. Three of those occupants were covered up indoors nestled between  
the warmth of their bodies at dawn. One could hardly hear the rain that was slowly getting heavier,  
more greedy for attention.

Louis smiled against Edward's lips and bit the other one, tugging on it between his teeth as he  
framed the man's face with his small hands. Edward had the thin and practically useless blanket  
wrapped all the way around the boy on his lap, feeling especially warm and _at peace_ with  
the softer presence.

"I could declare this the best morning ever." Edward returned Louis' enthusiasm in the kiss as he  
smirked and tried to devour what he could from such a simple connection.

"But?" Louis' fingertips tapped the hollow nature of Edward's cheekbone, teeth clashing in wet  
harmony as Edward's mouth wasn't ready to release the boy.

Edward merely shook his head and went back to their kissing session. It's been going on for over an  
hour they both believe and it hasn't escalated or degraded, just stayed at this lovely slow pace where  
they could enjoy each other's sweet gestures with a sweep of their tongues or nip of teeth.  
With a heavy intake of air, Edward held Louis by his buttocks with both firm hands as he lifted him  
a little higher and lot closer. The boy laughed and curled his fingers on Edward's clavicle, their  
swollen lips meeting in a ravenous union one more time.

"Sweetheart." Edward's arm crosses over Louis' back from his hip to his shoulder, their foreheads  
pressed together. "I want to marry you."

Louis doesn't bat an eye at such a sudden confession and tugs a little on Edward's frosty hair. "And  
I'd like to wash your hair."

"My baby brother told me you washed his. Isn't that enough?" Edward really shouldn't be as startled  
as he is by the idea of Louis washing his hair.

"Aw baby brother." Louis pushes some starch white hair back over Edward's forehead, cheeks a  
little more pink than usual.

"He _is_ my baby brother." Edward raises an eyebrow of his and turns Louis around, never  
mind their fully nude state.

Edward adores his other half, glancing momentarily at Harry's dozing shape as a lump of human  
mass amongst the thin sheets with puffy lips and pale skin.

"He was my pup before you." Edward says insightfully, making Louis guffaw quietly.

"Really?" Said he with widened eyes. "It's so cute."

His partner chuckled and flicked some hair out of his eyes, bending his knees under Louis' body. "I  
suppose I shouldn't take that away from him."

"Aha." Louis bumped their noses together. "I'll always be your petal."

Louis settled down between Edward's legs and got locked in by those muscular thighs around him.  
He rested the back of his head on Edward's shoulder and breathed out sleepily. His one hand still  
reached up behind Edward's head and twirled the spineless curls at the base of his hairline.  
They both looked forward at the muted television as meaningless images flashed by on the static  
screen, Louis' twitching fingers soothing the goosebumps on Edward's skin. The man would  
sometimes kiss his wrist where the pulse was strong or his temple with wet lips.

After two minutes of blankly observing the wall or Harry's sleeping form sprawled out on his front  
with the sheets just barely covering his behind as he softly snored into his pillow, Edward nudged  
Louis' jaw back towards him and connected their lips because being apart was primitive. He smiles  
when Louis grins and their kiss turns into little pecks that mould into a more hungry motive.

Louis' hands squeeze Edward's tough knee caps and he arches his back to give themselves a better  
angle, their tongues fighting for a lazy victory of dominance. Edward's sharp dagger teeth tugs  
strongly at Louis' lips fiercely. The latter moans in his throat while flipping back around to straddle  
Edward, earning a proud smirk and massage on his posterior.

Both hands of his boyfriend kneaded his bum in an eager fashion. Those plump red lips moved  
desperately against the cushions of Louis', sucking viciously until the thin flesh ripped and blood  
filtered through their kiss.

"Maybe your hands on me won't be so bad." Edward pushes Louis' knees further apart forcefully,  
rubbing two fingers over where his lovely boyfriend was sticky and glistening from late last night.

"Daddy." Louis cupped Edward's cheek in his palm, fingers sliding behind the man's ear. He rolls  
his hips back and forth, feeling the inflation of Edward's manhood between his thighs.

"Come on, baby."

Louis giggles, a loud near shriek falling from his voice box when he's hauled over Edward's  
shoulder. He's being carried towards the bathroom that's positioned differently to the one they had  
on their forward trip. He lightly slaps Edward's bare bum when he's hanging over the man's right  
side with an arm strapping him close.

"Behave, petal." Edward punishes Louis not by swatting his back but by wriggling his fingers from  
Louis' cheek to his hole.

A loud gasp followed by a high-pitched whine when Louis gets the pleasure of two long fingers  
entering his body. He scratched down Edward's back with his blunt nails, squirming on Edward's  
damp skin where muscle hid beneath taut skin.

The two fingers inside him work their way to be as deep as they can make it. Edward let's Louis  
slide a little down the length of his body so that he got knuckle deep and could scissor his fingers  
open. Louis dug his nails into Edward's nape and shoulder, his jaw falling open with his eyes   
screwed shut. By the time he's made it into the bathroom, he's shamelessly rounding his hips against  
Edward's torso with kisses being peppered over his chest.

"Greedy baby." Edward secured Louis' waist with both hands pressing into the soft flesh and  
touching bone, the boy's legs around his hips.

Louis' arms turn into a cage around Edward's neck while the latter male keeps him safely perched.  
Their size difference is so ideal, so perfectly designed that Louis could simply hold onto Edward  
with all his limbs wrapped around him. Edward chuckled as he found and pulled on a fresh pair of  
black boxer briefs.

Edward pulled a chair soundlessly in front of the basin and seats himself in it with Louis getting his  
perch situated comfortably on the man's lap. He kisses Edward one more time up on his knees and a  
suggestive grin.

"My Daddy." Louis tapped his forefinger on Edward's upper lip, just before it's caught between  
those very lips.

His finger gets sucked in and Edward's mouth closes around it, creating obscenely loud noises  
around the appendage while Louis tries not to combust on his lap. Edward groans when Louis knots  
the other hand of fingers in his hair and takes advantage of the man's willingness to let him  
overpower his body.

"Baby." Edward removes his mouth and latches onto Louis' neck. "You wanted to wash my hair. Get  
to it."

Louis now knows that Edward actually wants him to, since he's brought up the task of washing his  
hair after Louis forgot. He wiggles his hips to get more comfortable with bare skin on bare skin,  
rough cotton sometimes grazing his sensitized skin.

"Head back." Louis really doesn't need Edward's mouth off the artery in his neck but he's willing to  
sacrifice it.

Edward leans his head back as much as he can and when he meets Louis' eyes, smirks with a  
devilish wink. Louis blushes and kisses Edward's red nose tip. He yawns into his fist right  
afterwards and blinks away the possible tears, before picking up the shampoo bottle to squirt some  
onto his palm.

"Maybe make this more entertaining for me, petal." Edward's thumb rubs over the flesh of Louis'  
hip where a few of his possessive bite marks remained visible from the previous night.

Louis caught a humoured and enamoured sparkle in the man's eye when he looked his way, rubbing  
the shampoo between his hands before lathering up Edward's hair. Such a faint but stark hair colour  
and none of his washes off as Louis rubs his fingertips into the man's scalp, massaging in perfect  
tandem to the fast pace of his heart.

"I've only got only one way to do that." Louis spoke into Edward's cheek, planting a wet kiss right  
on that spot. "I don't believe it's a method that most would approve of."

Edward's undeniable lip quirk tells of the message behind it, the stewing implication of ideal  
suggestiveness. Louis could only return with a cut-off burst of sweet laughter before he's being   
raised up onto his knees and Edward is rewarding - or punishing - him with a slap on his left cheek  
just below the curve of his back.

"_Fuck_ those people, petal." Edward bit his lip and said, adding to his overly masculine and  
sex on legs persona. "I do what I want with what is mine."

Louis looked down at him a little scandalised and whole lot more hot between his legs where his  
body alluded the need for friction at where he was swelling up. He stared down into those eyes that  
carried emotions to soar freely through his body, a sharp inhale coming as a result to Edward  
positioning his body to hovering over his aching c*ck.

"I can certainly attest to the fact that I'm yours." Louis' head falls back between his tense  
shoulderblades as he's lowered, the action harmoniously timed with his erratic heartbeat.

He licks his lips and curls his fingers tightly in Edward's hair under the running water, spending  
minutes to allow his body to adjust. It's no longer a new sensation for his insides to work towards  
accommodating such a wild, arousing feat of their lives. Becoming whole felt like becoming one  
and that meant being inexplicably torn apart at the seams in the best possible way. It was the oldest  
comfort and newest pleasure to be connected physically.

Louis' throat became scratchy at his phenomenally low mewl. He gets that part of his kissed and  
praised by the lips of one of two most eager worshippers, leaning over Edward to fully seat himself.  
His hips shifted and wiggled until he'd taken all of Edward into him, opening his stinging eyes once  
it was done.

"Good. Good boy, petal." Edward's dry and calloused hand bridged the gap between shoulders and  
bum with continual sweeping of his palm. "Don't move, baby. Be still for me."

This was always the hardest part for Louis to tolerate. The twins seem to have a strong liking for  
keeping Louis sitting happily on their laps for no sexual reason. It was difficult only because one of  
them always made him lose his underwear to take in the girthy length. They also had no  
requirements for how hard they were, or how whiny it could potentially make Louis.

Both twins just loved greatly the thought and thrill that came with having Louis keeping their  
bodies warm by being inside him, not for sex. Louis was not one to object because it was  
immensely gratifying for himself when he got to be extra close to his Daddies.

"Are you going to get started soon, petal?" Edward teased with a banter-like pinch to Louis'  
posterior.

In response, Louis found an opportunity to whine and briefly nibble on Edward's ear lobe. "Be  
patient, Daddy."

"Patience is not on the table when it comes to you, darlin'." Something rattles on the bathroom  
counter as Louis reaches for it.

Edward never lifts his hands from Louis' full, curved hips even when the temptation got undeniably  
raw and made his mind flood with thoughts - possibilities - of things to do to his petal. He groaned  
at any hot, wet friction on his c*ck from Louis shifting in the slightest or bit the boy's neck  
harmlessly. 

Louis got to humming the song from last night while he made every effort to do a good job on  
soaping up Edward's hair. He can't say it made much of a colour difference as the white locks nearly  
matched the white foam. It was a little easier compared to Harry's hair because of a shorter length  
and layered style at the base, but that wasn't his top concern as he sneakily rounded his lower half  
continuously to taunt the man who gave him this throne.

"What did I say?" Edward cleared his throat after his pitch got deeper and fastened Louis' sides with  
both arms.

"Sorry, Daddy." Louis blushed and inwardly screamed because his own length has fattened up to a  
semi and he's so uncomfortable with leaving it as such.

He does a thorough sweep of Edward's hair with his fingers and conditioner so that it's all greasy to  
the touch and he's satisfied. He even spends a few minutes massaging the hairline above Edward's  
forehead with his thumbs where his brother's was receding.

"I should put a hair-net on you." Louis mindlessly comments, sitting back after drying his hands.  
Edward straightens his back and neck, cracking the air bubbles that have knuckles and knots where  
they shouldn't. "You can try, petal."

Giggling, Louis' eyes light up the way they haven't in the absence of the twins for over two months  
now and Edward steals a kiss or two from this splendour before it's gone.

"Move now, petal." Edward puts his face in its rightful resting place of Louis' neck, guiding his hips  
in an increasingly frantic slide. "C'mon, petal. Do you want to come, baby?"

Louis nods enthusiastically and his body is raised a couple inches higher with Edward's warm puffs  
of breath against his throat. His jaw is agape in a frozen cry of pleasure, getting a clear view of it in  
the mirror. He makes a choked little noises unintentionally as his chin rests on Edward's head and  
he's left to carry on alone.

His fingernails gather remnants of hair conditioner under them as he desperately buries his hands in  
Edward's hair to have a hold on something as he builds up a rhythm of greater speed and more  
noises from them both. Edward's mouth was open and pressed to various spots on Louis' neck,  
boiling his skin where it lay simply heated before.

Louis keened when the swollen head of an entirely hardened erection pushed past the tightening  
resistance of his muscles to discover his prostate. He all but screamed at a brutal collision against it,  
getting more urgent in his rhythm as Edward thrusted upward into the folds of him.

Edward growled appreciatively at Louis' nipple in his mouth although the boy's libido was hacked  
to pieces by it. He felt fully functional but hanging by a thread as his body was used so harshly.  
Being sore from last night held no meaning when he was bouncing the way he is, his walls rubbing  
against tough skin and getting beaten red with such impacts.

He felt stuffed full of Edward even when he'd been retracted. He silently screamed with his fingers  
getting more stiff and his mind emptying of all things around them. His body fitted ideally on  
Edward's and his thighs quivered as they tired out from his eager bounces. The man took pity on  
him and slid off the chair to back him up against a wall.

"Shh." Edward's hand overlapped on the hinges of the doorway. "You're going to take it, petal."

Louis' head hit the wall and his muscles ran like gooey substances, relying on his lover to hold him  
up completely. He _was_ going to take it. Always will. He gasped and panted in shredded  
breathing patterns, his body slipped as it dampened with sweat but Edward folded him in half and  
held him secured.

"Open your eyes." Edward held their hips flush against one another's, his length buried to the hilt  
inside his petite boyfriend. "Open those eyes for me, petal."

It was a battle but he managed to lift his eyelids and look at Edward with maddening intensity. He  
found emotions in those emeralds that could only exist there when they were compromised in this  
elicit manner. Edward's lips found Louis' in a fury and they balanced each other out with the boy's  
legs pulled apart at a near impossible angle.

Louis ran his hands down Edward's form and stopped at his shoulderblades, digging his short nails  
in as the man's pelvis started to move. He wanted to shut his eyes and savour this divine experience  
of being enjoyed by the man he loved, but was caught by the bark of an instruction to pay attention.  
Edward's fingers pressed into the under-sides of Louis' thighs, holding them apart and up until the  
knees were nearly braced near his ears. The stretch was cruel but Louis undoubtedly loved it as  
passionately as he loved the man who initiated it. His own hands found where Edward held him and  
reinforced the grip.

No further time was wasted as Edward grew unbelievably eager to pound into the opened body he  
had surrendered to himself, releasing little grunts and moans as skin slapped skin and turned it red.  
He bit Louis' lower lip and anchored himself to the boy, liquid from the slit of his length dribbling  
onto the throbbing walls of his other half. Louis shook and shuddered with riveting pleasure, his ass  
exposed for Edward wreck maniacally.

"Close, baby?" Edward let Louis lower his legs and cross his ankles behind his back, his hand taken  
to holding the boy open where he could.

"Y-Yeah, Daddy." Louis whimpered and was sure his insides were bleeding now from how unkind  
Edward was being.

Edward squashed his form against the cold tile wall and pivoted his hips with inhumane speed. He  
breathed raggedly and thrusted wildly, occasionally jerking Louis' faltering body upward into his  
arms more securely. Louis loved when he did that and awaited another round when he could be  
tossed into the air.

The world started to tilt off its axis and onto theirs, spinning rapidly and ruining Louis' self restraint.  
He couldn't get out from there little corner where Edward slammed into him repeatedly with  
monstrous precision that could split him right open, his large size and athletic prowess contributing  
to the destruction.

Louis was always so _small_ against either twin and he truly took joy in the reality. Knowing  
that he could be pinned against a wall or carried without much muscle strain made him turn red and  
his gut twist. Right now the pit of his tummy deepened and his insides knotted to alert him of an  
impending orgasm that will leave him blinded.

"Come with me, petal." Edward's voice was broken too and Louis clung to him a little harder  
because of it. 

Involuntarily, Louis' body caved to obedience and when Edward suddenly stilled inside him he  
wrapped himself around the man let go of any prohibitions. His body suffered a mild earthquake  
when he climaxed and he couldn't control any of his senses until after the ringing in his ears gave  
away.

Edward had emptied himself into the boy and it left a seared mark on the bruised tissues of his  
insides. Louis sighed, content with the rough treatment, and nuzzled Edward's shoulder sleepily.  
Sex always tired him out but with the twins it utterly dried him up.

"Petal?" Edward's conditioner scent wafted through Louis' nostrils. "Sleepy, baby?"

Louis nodded but swallowed his yawn when it threatened to escape. He still had to wash out  
Edward's hair.

"I'm going to put you in bed with Harry, petal." Edward informs the weakened boy in his arms,  
giving him a little kiss behind the ear just because.

"M'kay." Is Louis' sugary sweet response coming from a soft place where he's floaty and calm.  
As is only natural with either twin, Harry accepts Louis under the fold of his arm while he's still  
vaguely asleep. Edward gently lays Louis down beneath the covers and Harry finds his forearm  
weave its way onto the curve of the boy's back. He was instantly comfortable with another warm  
presence in his bed, pressing half his face to the delicate skin of Louis' scapullas.

Edward covers both parties with the indecent sheets before withdrawing himself. "Sleep tight."

He goes out to get them a well-earned breakfast meal that probably shouldn't cost as much as it did  
but he'll splurge any day on them together. In the time that he does, Harry gets to wake up to the  
festive and heartwarming sight that is Louis asleep on his front.

Harry doesn't make a move other than draw odd doodles on Louis' back with his finger, his mind  
gravitating towards where the perfectly rounded cigarette burn was. It's healed into a light pink scar  
now and Harry is in love with it enough to kiss it now at this dreadful hour.

Louis doesn't stir in his slumber while Harry traces over the burn injury, peppering it with kisses all  
around just to treasure it. He scratches at the skin around it fondly and his nails get a little deeper  
than necessary but it doesn't bother him very much. Louis is accustomed to the pain they inflict in  
tiny dosages and so fails to do more than whimper.

Harry's red lines that are left behind serve as a wonderful work of scattered art around the main  
attraction. He stops to stick to one spot and clears his throat softly, feeling the frail layer of skin  
give up to reveal pinker and more sensitive surfaces. Louis twitches and moans, the pain rocketing  
up his spine becoming enough to wake him up.

"H-Harry?" He croaks drowsily, arms folded under his head on the smashed pillow.

"Morning, petal." Harry sets out on one hard grate of his nail on Louis' skin to the left of the  
cigarette burn and the harsh stroke gets it to _bleed_ in tiny red spurts.  
Louis looks back over his shoulder with a bitten lip and the dried taste of an absent man on it,  
hissing through his gritted teeth when Harry holds him down. 

"Are you ready to go home today?"

Harry doesn't allow Louis to see the ugly scratch on his lower back but stretching out and curling  
around the boy like a mould. He sucks on his index finger to clean it of the blood that's gotten  
crusty there.

"Yes and no." Louis welcomes the arm over his side, the hand flatten over his chest, slipping his  
fingers through those. Their legs are messed up in a tumble and Harry's lips were on Louis' head.  
"You?"

"What choice do we have, darlin'?" Harry offers his bicep to substitute Louis' pillow.

Louis closed his eyes again, relaxing like it shouldn't be allowed. Their naked bodies were slotted  
into one another's in perfect fits, Harry's covering the distance Louis' couldn't while the latter  
occupied the middle space. Harry spied some more red droplets sprouting from Louis' skin and he  
covered them up by pressed his abdomen to that area.

"We have a choice." Louis tickles Harry's forearm by tracing over the expanse of it with his  
fingertips. "There's always the option of abandoning every responsibility and running away."

"We'd never do that." Harry kisses Louis' nape. "I'd never allow it."

"Oh really?" Louis giggles.

Harry's hum of acknowledgement sets a course for unobtrusive vibrations through Louis' body from  
the source point of his sensitive neck. Louis' mewl leads to a fussing sound as Harry rolls his weight  
on top of Louis' to pin him down effectively.

"Harry!" Louis' loud laughter and half-hearted resistance is futile because Harry is excellent at  
ensuring Louis can't move.

Finding their current situation more amusing than dangerous, Harry releases his petal to turn over  
onto his back. He doesn't miss how Louis flinches and arches his back a little to ease the pressure  
on his back when the newly opened injury touches something.

"Do you think-" Harry lowered his lips to Louis. "-I could take you with me somewhere alone?"

Louis rounds his lips and makes a sound of both awe and an amount of thrill that turned cute.  
Harry's grin set into his features and Louis got to admire those notorious dimples freely. The man  
above him patted his hip twice and Louis knew to set a cradle around him with his spread legs.

"Where would that be?" Louis asks, his mouth curving with his blush as Harry captures the  
attention of his lips.

"A cemetery." Harry replies, biting Louis' bottom lip when the boy closes his mouth.

Louis goes easily when Harry pulls them both up into a sitting position, the boy's thighs thrown  
over his hips and knees bent in the air. Louis squirms at the unpleasant trickle exiting his body,  
come dripping out of him and onto the sheets or Harry's legs. 

"Why would you like to take me to a cemetery?" Louis pulls an abandoned cover with him to lie  
across their laps.

"Always wanted to fuck in one." Harry simply states in response.

If Louis had been eating, he'd have choked. _"Why?"_

Harry's throaty chuckle is both evil and endearing. "I won't fuck you cemetery, petal. You deserve  
better."

Louis has to disguise his admiration with childishness and for a fleeting moment, sticks his tongue  
out at Harry. The reaction he gets is a crushing embrace and so hugs Harry back.

They both hear the keys to unlock the door being handled outside and watch Edward soon walk in  
with two brown paper bags of what smells like the best possible breakfast to be anticipated. Louis  
doesn't feel like moving yet as most of his muscles below his belly button is either sore or stiff.

"What's this then?" Harry peers into one of the bags when it's dropped off at his side.

"Feast of peasants." Edward tells him with a bit more than pride, giving Louis' awaiting lips a hard  
kiss. "Enjoy, petal."

Preening, Louis gives him an innocent grin and upholds their kiss for a little while longer. Edward  
folds a leg under the other as he picks a spot on their messy, unorganised bed. Louis gets himself  
comfortable nestled under Harry's chin while he extracts the containers of food. He dug into the  
choice of chicken and mushroom pasta before anyone else could.

"Petal, about your return to Seattle." Edward pries off the transparent lid of something that smells  
spicier than what Harry is eating.

"Yes?" Louis has to set his container on his lap because Harry is eating around him.  
"When will that be?"

"Two or three weeks." Louis answers, spearing some of the raviolli with his fork. "Why?"  
"Where will you live when you get there?"

Louis knows he can't go _home_ in the sense that means return to where he grew up because  
of his sisters. Despite their loneliness but also strong lack of need for him, his father bought him a  
flat not too far away and he intends to finally move in.

"I have a place." He is allowed to steal one of Harry's dumplings. Just one. "It's big enough for the  
three of us."

Louis is concerned that Edward may be reconsidering the opportunity to go while the latter is  
troubled by the possibility of Louis denying them that when he changes his mind. Harry can see  
both their doubts and decides to flatten it.

"You still want us to come, petal?" He asks to the boy on his lap.

"Of course." Louis says confidently without over-selling it. 

"And we still want to accompany you." Harry looks at Edward. "Everything is settled."

  
* * * * *  


"How is he?" Louis first asks the doctor he knows was left in charge of his father at Middleston's  
General Hospital.

"He's been stable so he's fine." The doctor of thirty or so responds, unclipping his pen as he gives  
Louis a polite smile.

They've been back in Middleston for less than a day and Louis came alone to the hospital after Niall  
promised to meet him here and the twins had business to take care off. He didn't ask what business  
but he has a nagging suspicion it has something to do with the boat he was promised  
accommodation on.

"I'd like to talk to you about moving him up to Seattle." Louis forces himself to be blunt about it,  
careful not to look right where a window into his father's room stood.

The doctor slots his pen back into the pocket of his white coat and nods. "May I ask why?"

"I'll be moving there in a few weeks and it would be easier for me to keep an eye on him."

"Okay well, does he have a doctor in Seattle?"

"Yes." Louis laces his fingers together over the front of his ironed hoodie that was much too big on  
him. "I will give you the details as soon as I have them."

"Good." The doctor takes up scribbling across a small piece of paper. "Give me all these details a  
week before you leave and I'll organise the move. Will you move him with our transportation or  
yours?"

"I would think yours will be a little more convenient."

"Okay." The piece of paper is torn off and handed to Louis, which he reads and holds back. "Get  
back to me, yeah?"

"I will."

Louis can't stop staring at the ten digits written beneath four requirements for the lifting of his father  
to Seattle, biting his lip unnecessarily hard. The doctor is gone down the hall to attend to other  
patients while Louis looked at his phone number dumbfounded. Louis didn't find the doctor  
attractive enough to be worth engaging the wrath of his boyfriends. He also _loves_ his crazy  
boyfriends.

"I would _not_ call him." Niall pitches up on Louis' immediate left with his hands in his  
pockets and lower lip jutting out as he read the phone number.

Turning his head to look over his shoulder, Louis laughs at his best friend as he envelopes him in a  
hug. "Hey, Ni."

Niall grins and hugs him back with a tight squeeze, snatching the paper up to mock Louis with it.  
"Hi. How's your father?"

Louis rolls his eyes and squashes up the paper before dropping it in the pocket of Harry's hoodie  
he's got on, sobering as they stand side by side outside his father's room. "He's doing fine."

Nodding cautiously, Niall leans slightly against Louis' side. Louis chews his lip as he looks at his  
dad, comatose and sleeping silently with such a gentle slope caused by his breathing. His scars were  
healed over completely and his scanners were monitoring what progress his vital signs were  
making.

Louis crosses his arms over his narrow chest, the much too wide sleeves causing bulges over his  
biceps with excess fabric and sweater paws for his dainty wrists. He can see his own features that  
came from his dad reflected back at him in the form of the man himself. It makes him smile very  
subtly to know he's got his better parent alive and close to being fully healthy.

His mother's death no longer has a fatal effect on him. He doesn't go into a fit of panic or terror  
anymore because he's recovered from it, and learned how to cope.

"I have to tell you something." Louis clears his throat and briefly glanced at his father before  
looking down at his shoes.

Niall mirrored his posture with a concentrated frown, his slightly dusty jeans showing the open slits  
at the knees. "Yes?"

"I'm going back to Seattle."

Uncrossing his ankles, Niall's knitted brows relax before twitching into something confused. He  
repeats the motion again as he struggles to retain the information. "What?"

Niall had followed Louis from Seattle to Middleston, although he took a little longer - a month  
precisely - to do so. He had needed his best friend's support for the time and Louis had willingly  
offered up a place in his home because he could afford it.

Unfortunately now, Louis wants nothing more than the chance to whisk away everyone he loves  
back home. He's telling Niall in the hopes that he'll make a decision too, considering besides their  
movable jobs there aren't ties here.

"Yeah." Louis scratches the tip of his nose and smiles weakly. "I decided I'd go back when  
uh-.....when we were coming back."

Niall listens but still has a round of frustrated creases above the bridge of his nose. "Okay well.....I  
understand. I won't be coming with you."

Louis sniffles as the bleached scent of the hospital's corridors made him uncomfortable due to his  
allergies. This time his own frown screws up his face. "Why not, Ni?"

"Because-" Niall shrugs and rubs his own bicep like its a region where he felt chilly. "-I have  
reasons to stay."

"Zayn and Liam?" Louis couldn't help a little smile of support. He's so glad that he can safely state  
his friend is secure and content with two people he loves.

"Yeah." Niall slips three of his five fingers into his pockets on either side, his shoulders stiffening  
by his ears.

Louis' mood darkens a little in concern at the _minutely_ bored tone of his best friend. "You  
don't sound so excited, Ni. What's up?"

Niall instantly caters to the gap in his outward personality, his lips being tugged into a broader smile  
and chuckle of reassurance. "I am! I'm just....tired right now."

"Oh." Louis is fairly good at examining body language but he knows how erratic Niall can be and  
doesn't take any of this to heart. "Well we're all back in town now so everyone can get some sleep."

"Yeah." Niall agrees in a cross between overly enthusiastic and forced. "Yeah, definitely. So you're  
really going? When will that be?"

"Two weeks most probably." Louis watches a few unknown people enter and exit through the  
electronic emergency room doors. "Are you, Liam and Zayn going to stay for a bit?"

"I think so." Niall steps aside when a gurney is being rolled past them and nudges his chin in the  
direction of a nearby vending machine, indicating that Louis should follow. "We've talked about  
nothing serious so far but Liam likes it here and Zayn already filed for a transfer."

"Really? Wow." Louis sheds a few dollars to pull two Vitamin Water bottles from the iced machine.  
"That's a big step."

"Pretty big." Niall echoes, twisting the grey cap open to a snap. "I just got a more solid job and now  
they do too so I don't really see a reason to leave."

Louis won't deny that he's saddened by this news of Niall not coming with him back to Seattle but  
it's one of those things he'll learn to overcome emotionally. His best friend is happy here and that  
makes him evidently thankful, as said friend also expresses no discontent at him leaving it amplifies  
that emotion.

"We still have two weeks, Lou." Niall throws an arm over Louis' shoulders and reels him in with a  
bold laugh. "Don't get teary on me."

"Nah." Louis squeezes back around Niall's hip, then his eyes happen to land on his neck and he's  
shocked. "What is _that_?"

"What's what?" Niall swallows and inadvertently tries to see what Louis is gawking at. "Lou?"

"Your neck makes it look like you've been bitten by a Cullen." Louis' cold and damp fingers touch  
the painfully reddened spot, earning a wince from Niall.

"You're one to talk." Niall scoffs, not offensively and even allows Louis to observe the monstrous  
mark with a little pride in his chest. It may have come from a source the boy won't like to know  
about but it makes Niall smug.

Louis stops antagonising the mild wound and keeps walking. "Yeah but my boyfriend gave me  
mine."

"_Boyfriend._" Niall reaches over and pinches Louis' cheek. "You sound so cute when you say  
it like they're not crazy."

"It is what it is, Ni." Louis shrugs, taking another sip of dragon fruit vitamin water. "So which one  
of the rangers gave you that?"

"Whichever one you think-" Niall pauses for Louis to think of Liam. "-it isn't him."

Louis breaks into laughter at the thought of Zayn causing such a brutal mark of territory or  
anything. Marks like that, love-bites or not, usually indicate grave possessiveness and Louis has  
never gotten that vibe from either Liam or Zayn.

"Speaking of which." Niall obstructs his train of thought. "Where _are_ your boyfies?"

"Boyfies?" Louis raises an eyebrow of amusement. Where on Earth did he hear such an absurd  
name?'

"Yup." Niall and he come to a halt just outside Louis' dad's room as he plans to go in soon.

"I don't know." Louis takes out the phone of Edward's he has in his pocket, checking the time of  
18h43. "They'll be here in twenty or so minutes."

"Alright. Want me to wait with you?"

"How did you get here?"

"Took a cab from work." Niall caps his drink. "Have you eaten in the past-"

"No." Louis can answer that without hesitancy and laugh when Niall's eyes grow a bit wider.

"I'll go get us some grub then." Niall hugs Louis once before departing, squeezing the boy's hand  
where he held on.

Louis goes into his father's room after Niall is a good distance away, not intentionally of course. He  
closes the door behind him and takes a seat away from the monitors that look especially susceptble  
to his clumsiness. The chair is tough plastic on his behind but he leans forward to ease the pressure  
and grasp his father's dry hand.

Mark is in a different position from the moving of the nurses to prevent bed sores. A sincere flood  
of dreadful guilt washed Louis clean with regret whenever he thinks about this and how he is the  
cause of his father's coma. It gets easier to think that one day he'll wake up and Louis can apologise  
to him with heartfelt words.

"Hey, Dad." He pulls his chair closer and sets the unit of their hand connection on the mattres. "I'm  
sorry I left town. I just had to get away for a bit, you know? It sometimes becomes too much and  
you, of all people, know how awful I am around pressure. But I'm back now and I'm never leaving  
again. Promise." 

He leans over to give the warm forehead of his father a gentle peck before reclining. There's a faint  
unsteady beep from the ECG monitor and it sparks some hope in Louis' chest but the line soon  
returns to its regulated pattern and the spark is subdued.


	37. Chapter Thirty-Seven

***NARRATOR'S POV***

"Hey, Harry." Louis was told by Edward to go see to his younger brother who was getting violent at  
the sight of him.

Their move is in two days and Harry is suddenly acting up to nobody's expectations. Edward tried  
to get into the bedroom and was targeted with a vase, so he exited before his temper got the better  
of him. Louis now knocked and slowly entered, safe from any vases.

Harry was seated on the edge of their bed, shoulders hunched and facing the window that had _so  
many_ awful memories tacked onto it. He looked at his lap when he heard Louis.

"What's wrong?" Louis cautiously shuffled over to him, focusing on the figure shrinking in on  
itself.

Harry sat up straight, the movement heard by a soft creak on the mattress and the rustle of his cotton  
shirt fabric. He patted his knee and Louis knew to get situated on it, eyes meeting across a tiny  
distance.

"Seattle, petal." The man spoke so softly Louis almost doubted his words were real. "I don't want to  
go."

Louis' heart plummeted from his throat to the cold ground, bare and vulnerable to any heavy foot to  
stomp on it. "Wh-What?"

"It's not _home_, petal. It's Seattle." Harry's brief and simplistic explanation got Louis to  
nearly crumble. He didn't want to leave home.

"Oh Harry." Louis offered him a hug and soon Harry's face with fitted into his neck, strong and safe  
arms bound around his back. "We can make a new home, yeah?"

Harry immediately shook his head no. "Can't make a new home, petal."

"Why not?" Louis' voice rose noticeably with how thick his panic was getting.  
"This is home, petal."

"You _can_ build a new home, Harry. A better one with people you love. I love you, Harry.  
Don't you love me too?"

  
* * * * *  


Louis is self sufficient and therefore extremely miffed about the fact that the twins aren't allowing  
him to carry any boxes. He simply sits perched on the ideal kitchen counter with his legs crossed  
and head in his hands, looking bored.

Seattle is a new venture for them even if Louis has lived for the major part of his life. The  
apartment his father bought under his name - which essentially meant that Louis is to cover all the  
bills himself - is much too spacious for just him. The lease has since been divided in ownership  
because Edward insisted on taking fifty percent of the responsibilities. Thereafter, they have split  
the bills to one or two occupants.

There are two floors and a spiral staircase that leads to the lower one after entering on the top level.  
The living room is jam-packed with sealed boxes and bubble wrap that Louis found to be a  
reasonable pass-time. His kitchen was one that he easily fell for, which the essentials already in  
place so he just had to go out and get food.

Two bedrooms, one guest and one master. Both were en-suites and Louis decided before stepping  
foot in the apartment that the second one would become a studio of sorts. Storage or office, he  
doesn't really care.

However, Louis' true form of entertainment is the display of two shirtless individuals who he  
particularly fancies making their way up and down the aforementioned staircase. It certainly isn't  
nothing he hasn't seen before from Edward or Harry, but the novelty of it has yet to wear off.  
He sits on his perch, content to grin whenever eye contact was made between the lovers, until he  
was summoned.

"Petal." Harry is the one to do it, call Louis over in his socks and faded jogging shorts.

"Hi." Louis saunters over to him, stretching up on his tiptoes to kiss Harry's cheek.

"You're going to have to start unpacking if you want to get anywhere today." Edward passes by and  
briefly mentions to them both. "Get on it, petal!"

Louis isn't demotivated by the task. Unpacking dozens of taped boxes in various rooms sounds  
bleak but is nonetheless something for him to do. Harry though, wants more of his lips before  
anything can be done. Louis happily granted him a deeper kiss by going so far as to replace the  
boxes in his arms.

"Always my favourite package to carry around." Harry flashes him a dazzling, dimpled smile.  
Rolling his eyes, Louis wraps his legs around Harry's waist and giggles when his lips are attacked  
by far more desperate ones. "Happy to be of service."

The rest of their three and a half free minutes is spent making up for lost time as Harry sacrifices  
breathing in fresh air to kiss Louis. The latter is snogged until his mind is a pile of nothing and he's  
got a new mark on his neck. It doesn't end very prettily when Harry attempts to get out of the way  
and trips on the boxes he dumped earlier.

They tumble to the ground in a heap with Louis laughing and Harry's eyes narrowed in anger. His  
frustration dies down when Louis kisses his nose and gives him a _brief_ cuddle right there on  
the cold floor before standing up.

"I told you you'd be the death of me." Harry picks up the boxes again while Louis fetches a water  
bottle from the fully operational refrigerator.

"And I told you-" Louis takes a large gulp before handing it over. "-that I'm offended."

"You're not offended." Harry knew he wasn't. His petal had turned extra pink and smiled when he  
said it.

Edward happens by them again and Harry is forced to keep moving, tonight - which is a few hours  
away - being promised to them as the only alone time they'll have. They had to unload the moving  
truck now though so that was top priority.

Louis finds himself behind a closed door of the designated master bedroom moments after Edward  
and Harry returned to their routine of hauling labelled boxes. He sorted out the difference between  
clothing and toiletries before moving said boxes to the correct rooms.

Their en-suite bathroom was, in his best expression, cute. He loved the clawfoot tub that stood just  
under a wide window, the walls narrowed in that corner so there was no space on either side for the  
tub to move. The shower section was protected by frosted glass and occupied a huge space beside  
the counter of two basins.

The bathroom essentials were easier to handle considering they managed to convince Edward to  
leave most of his colognes behind. Louis did find it amusing how almost everything differed, from  
shampoos to fragrances. He made sure to keep them separated so as to lessen a hassle everyday.  
His heart leapt into his throat at the thought. He is _officially_ living with Edward and Harry,  
two men he despised upon their first encounter. None of them had thought this step to be one taken  
too soon, and began anticipating the move from dreary Middleston in no time. Louis hasn't had time  
to regret anything, and can't see himself doing so in the near future.

With the bathroom sorted and all the empty boxes discarded at the door, Louis walks into their  
closet with a heavy sigh. There are three piles of boxes that need sorting and he is not looking  
forward to it.

Thankfully, someone knocks on the shut bedroom door to distract him from his aggravation. "Come  
in."

A portion of Harry's body shows through the crack of the partially open doorway. "It's almost four.  
We have a date in ten minutes, petal."

"I remember." Louis assures him with a soft smile, the gathered skin of his cheeks turning red.  
Harry shuts the door again and Louis goes on the hunt for a suitable pair of shoes. He's been  
promised a 'date' of such low standard he need not change his shorts. It's been Harry's idea for the  
past few hours and Edward only knew about it from constantly passing by the distracted  
conversations.

Louis finds some Tomy's under a stack of Vans boxes and decides that it's been neglected for too  
long. He slips the navy shoes on and ties up the lace hastily, just in time for the door to reopen.

"I'm coming." He mindlessly tells the person who has to be Harry as he gets to his feet.

"I'm sure you are, petal." Says not Harry's voice, the tone rougher and octave lower.

Louis spins around to uncover Edward leaning against the closet entry way with his arms crossed  
over his shirtless chest. Black slack pants that hang too low and reveal the canvas that is his upper   
body, coupled with the significant gloss of sweat and damp lips. His embarrassment is brief and he  
approaches Edward without reluctance, daring to poke the man's bulging bicep when he gets there.  
"I hear you and my baby brother have a date." Edward's smirk is enough to make Louis whimper,  
the salacious connotations and boyish charm earning his loyalty.

"We do." Louis squeaks in a nearly feminine high pitch when Edward jerks his whole form forward,  
chest to chest now.

Edward's face is close enough to Louis' for their inhales and exhales to be a shared duty, Louis  
fighting the heat in his cheeks while his captor enjoys his squeamishness.

"Do you know where he's taking you?" Edward asks it like the most seductive question, voice low  
and measured to be perfectly sultry.

Louis wants to reach out and make sure this man crowding him is real, his palm - that is  
_small_ according to Harry - settles over Edward's cheek. "No idea."

"I do actually, petal." Edward's smug nature only brightens to something teasing.

"Where?" Louis drags his fingertips down the hard curve of Edward's jaw.

Edward surprises him with a lift into the air and eliciting a fond laugh from him. "You might as well  
wait to find out, darlin'."

"Please, Daddy?"

Louis' arms lock around Edward's neck in an attempt to convince him. They both know very well  
how spontaneous Harry can be and he really does not want to be caught off guard at a place he's  
inappropriately dressed to attend. It may not humiliate him because it won't be his fault, but he's  
bound to be a little upset.

"Do you know that I'm entitled to a date with you alone as well after this?" Edward doesn't care for  
the sweat remnants that are being absorbed into Louis' clothing.

"Where will _you_ take me?" Louis believes he's good at sussing out information when he  
needs it.

"Somewhere-" Edward's palms so discreetly slide down to Louis' curved bum, cupping it with both  
hands. "-unlike Harry's choice in venues."

"Which would be.....?"

"Petal, I assure you-" Edward chuckles to a private joke. "-it will not be enough to catch you by  
surprise."

"Then-" Louis drags out the word, depicting what innocence he could. "-you can tell me."

"I could." Edward ridicules his tone and drops Louis onto the brand new mattress, remaining in his  
standing position as the boy's mass bounced on the springs. "For a price, of course."

Louis' eyes twinkle with mischief. His knees remain parted no matter what because of the man  
between them, his thighs supported by Edward's hands gripping them. "What kind of price?"

"Considering I am elder-" Edward throws a principled crooked smile Louis' way, lowering himself  
down to his forearms. "-I should be convinced that you'll be good for my brother."

The objective of role-play sparks an interest in Louis. He leans up on his elbows and his lips meet  
Edward's cheekbone. "You'll have to shower first."

Edward barks out a laugh and isn't slick about swatting Louis' behind as a mild punishment before  
pulling back. "Go on, petal. He's waiting for you."

Louis stretches for a moment before actually getting back up on his feet, Edward already gone into  
the bathroom. The moving truck is gone and all the things they wished to bring with them from  
Middleston has been brought along without trouble.

"You're going like that?" Louis is dangerously concerned about the destination of the date now that  
he's heard Harry isn't bothering to put a shirt on for it.

Harry slipped on his boots and reached out with his hand to take Louis' fingers between his. "It's not  
a formal place, petal."

"Still." Louis finds himself following behind the man, out the front door of their new home and into  
public territory.

A copy of the front door's key is put in Harry's front jeans pocket, his hand staying there while the  
other was connected with Louis'. They take the first available elevator and Louis blocks his laughter  
in Harry's arm when an old woman steps in after them. She fortunately doesn't mention or even  
glance their way incorrectly, and Harry doesn't seem to acknowledge her presence.

Louis is glad that there aren't too many things to iron out with the apartment, although it feels like  
there are. His father is safely placed in Seattle's finest private hospital establishment and he spoke to  
Niall just yesterday. He's got a good lead to a new start and it's _exciting._

"Do you want to know where we're going?" Harry puts the security of his arm over Louis'  
shoulders, their fingers knitted together over the boy's other side as they step out.

"Yes please."

They're on the seventh floor and returning to ground level, Louis steers them away from the crowd  
of tenants and girl scouts. Harry doesn't head for the garage and Louis goes with him through the  
front entrance, getting swept up in glass revolving doors.

Their apartment complex was a newly developed one on a dusty empty lot, more like it to be built  
on either side of them. It's said to be fully let out already, each apartment down to the cheapest has  
been sold to someone. Across the street to them is a suburban neighbourhood with simple, neat  
homes lined up. Their pastel colours and pretty flowers were such strong attributes to the ideal  
American image.

"It's a yard sale." Harry interrupts their silent stroll down the grey pavement in sunny weather to  
confess.

Louis looks up, curling his fingers against Harry's knuckles, and doesn't believe him. "A yard sale?"

"Yes." Harry slows down his pace so that Louis can keep up without going out of breath. "I saw the  
notice near our mailbox."

"You've been planning this date for how long?" Louis can strictly recall how Harry reminded him  
everyday of this _very important_ date.

Harry plants a kiss on Louis' temple, his lips wetting the skin as he grins unabashedly. He looks so  
young and carefree with the sun hitting his hair and skin at the right angle, his teeth perfectly white  
and adding to the residual smoulder of his expressions. Louis thought him and Edward to be  
sometimes carved of the finest, most precious gems in the world.

"Would you prefer a fancy restaurant and flowers?" Harry seems to have mentally mapped out  
where the house is, crossing the street before a pedestrian walk.

Louis doesn't even have to think about it. "The flowers don't sound too bad, you know."

"I will buy you a flower everyday then, petal." Harry only confirms Louis' suspicion that money  
meant little to him.

Harry does not disrespect money or waste it, but should be characteristic of their wealth be  
challenged he always made certain to squash the opposition. He bought little trinkets for Louis all  
the time and at each go, they were cheap souvenirs, but added up they amounted to quite a bit.  
Louis told him everyday not to spend money on him but Harry refused and soon Edward jumped on  
the wagon.

There is an old woman with a wheelbarrow of fresh roses standing outside the apartment complex  
everyday, selling bunches or single stems of her merchandise. Harry intends to purchase one  
everyday so that Louis never feels any amount of neglect.

"We're here." Harry comes to a stop outside the third house they've completely walked past.  
The house is a soft yellow with no second floor and a dull red front door, tables set up across their  
expansive lawn laden with miscellaneous items. Lots of people are already here and walking  
through the make-shift isles, perusing what can be still used. Louis changes his mind about this  
'date'. The simplicity of it says a lot to him about Harry and that's worth the smell of dust, burning  
plastic and other unpleasant things.

He does stick to Harry's side as they pick the table with ceramic ornaments just to browse what's on  
sale. Louis seems to have lost the battle of not wasting money here the moment Harry lays eyes on a  
porcelain kitten cookie jar.

It's hideous with such wide eyes and a ribbon for a collar, only slightly chipped at the whiskers. The  
paint work on it is impressive but it's antique fashion is wholly unnerving to have when he takes a  
walk downstairs in the middle of the night and have it staring at him.

"No." Louis puts his foot down about it. He will not own such a horrendous object.

Harry doesn't release Louis from under his arm but also seems serious about this cat cookie jar. He  
turns it over using one hand and Louis has to catch the lid before it falls. 

"Petal, it's lovely." Harry aptly contradicts him by saying. He examines the hollow contraption for  
other flaws, but he's thoroughly impressed by it.

"I don't think so." Louis shakes his head, pouting to be more convincing. "It's ugly."

"We're getting it." Harry doesn't leave any room argument after seeing the price of two dollars.

"I don't know how to bake cookies." Louis supplies, getting to place the lid over the cat's back and  
hold the heavy object with both arms.

"I do." Harry kisses Louis on his sweet lips, tasting himself all over again and letting it soothe the  
demonic and incessant need to claim this lovely boy. "Would you like to learn?"

Louis may have stepped ahead by a foot or two but their hands are still joined and he still smiled  
genuinely when asked. There's no one within hearing range so he let's rip a secret weapon of his.  
"I'd love that, Daddy."

Harry catches him by surprise with his sudden hug around his middle, swallowing up the loud  
outburst of giggles from his victim with a tender kiss he coaxes by nudging their lips together. They  
end up standing there in the least busy section of the yard sale under the shade of an oak tree with  
Harry smiling into their kisses.

"Behave." Louis chastises when Harry's body language threatens to go beyond a PG rating.  
Getting a hint easily enough, Harry pecks Louis' nose and they move on together. His hand always  
having a purchase on some part of his petal at all times, whether there were other people or no  
people near them. The crowd at the yard sale got stifling at one point before collapsing into a steady  
stream of a lesser capacity. Harry pitching up in a pair of tight jeans and no shirt has rendered some  
attention from both genders, all eyes on his chiselled physique even when their kids were asking  
various toys.

Standing next to Louis with his arm wounded tightly around that boy's waist didn't deter anyone's  
confidence until a kiss was spared or those people got close enough to regret their choice.

"If you get to have an awful cookie jar, I want this." Louis states after saving himself from tripping  
over an ignored framed painting, and taking a liking to it.

Harry grabs both sides of the frame and holds it up for a proper look-over. He is greatly  
unimpressed by the fifteen dollar artwork of a naked woman with her feminine featured meshed  
into crimson sheets and flowing navy waves.

"I fail to see-" Harry turns the heavy frame over to frown at the handwritten price against the print  
of the artist's name. "-what you enjoy in this painting, petal."

"We can put it in the kitchen." Louis suggests, leaning back against a fold-up plastic table.

"We can leave it here." Harry sets the suspiciously heavy painting back down on the grass, retaking  
Louis' hand in his so they can move on.

Louis looks over his shoulder as Harry ushers him away, longing for what he just left behind. "But  
why do you get a cat jar?" 

"No fussing with me, petal."

"Fine." Louis resigns from the impending fight. It's not worth the ugliness for a stupid painting.

They pass a few groups of people on their way to the back-yard where more tables were set up.  
Those who were young and girly stared a bit longer at Harry's half naked state than the married  
women over the fence. Louis found it hilarious how the yard sale started to fill up with people  
wherever they were.

He was looking at the kiddy tree house with panels of strong wood nailed to the tree trunk leading  
up into the abyss of branches and a sturdy structured mini home, when a head peered back down at  
him through the medium sized opening. Before he can suffer a heart attack from easily triggered  
fear, Louis realises that it's a kid with his friends up in the tree house.

"Hi." He waves up at them, a little smile playing on his lips.

The boy had to be under ten years old with extra dark eyes on marble pale skin. He waves back, half  
his face only revealed to him.

In the meantime, Harry is concentrating on the gallery of polaroid cameras on the table he's seeing.  
Beside each one was an array of filters to use and he is seriously considering ignoring the fifty plus  
dollar price to get them all. Some were larger than both his hands and required both to be supported,  
while others only needed the click of a finger and hardly some balancing.

"What are you doing up there?" Louis asks him, a bit louder than ordinary to be heard.

The boy in the tree attempts to reveal his entire face but pulls back at the last second and just waves  
again. It puzzles Louis but he doesn't think much of it, penning the behaviour down to anxiety  
because of all these people in the boy's home.

Harry picked up one of the heavier cameras with a brown strip across the top, covering any  
necessary buttons. Since Louis is a small but significant distance away, a girl of an anonymous  
identity deems it a good time to make herself known.

"Hi." She budges up next to him, her sundress showing just enough of her tanned legs.

Harry doesn't think she's talking to him because it's blatantly obvious that he won't be showing  
interest in anyone except his petal. He sets the polaroid camera down and chooses the even bigger  
one, jet black and the Nikon label printed on in silver.

"Um." The young girl is not deterred by the subtle rejection, nervously twisting the hem of her  
sundress. "Excuse me-"

"Petal?" Harry thinks the voice of an added person who is starting to pester him with extra  
background noise.

He crosses the few meters towards the boy who has given up hope of ever bringing the scared little  
boy down from his tree house, and acquires Louis' attention by draping his arms over the thinner  
shoulders. He weighs Louis down by the new pressure but the boy doesn't do more than squeeze his  
wrist and kiss his bicep.

"Found something?" Louis asked of him, tilting his head back under his chin to gaze up into Godsent mixture of deep green and golden flecks.  
"This is something any one of us could put to good use." Harry presents to him the polaroid camera,  
lifting it with one hand.

"Oh wow." Louis takes it from him, needing both hands. "I haven't seen one of these in  
Middleston."

"Never sold 'em, I believe."

Harry lines up the bodies from where he's standing, flush against one another. He enjoys maximum  
possible physical contact with Louis, because it made him feel as if he actually had control over  
what ran mad in his mind.

"We can get one." Louis slips the strap over his wrist. "Have you ever taken a selfie?"  
All he gets is night cricket silence and when he looks at Harry, a lifeless look in his eye stating more  
than just the answer.

He cracks up at Harry's dead response and turns around to nuzzle his neck, warm cotton of bare  
flushed skin. Harry unforgivingly crushes him to his torso and grins when Louis whines. They  
forget a lot of the time that they're in public, looking like an overly fond couple. Harry likes to think  
that they are.

"Do you want to buy it?" Louis breaks Harry's heart by stepping away with the camera and trying to  
see through it. He looks up from behind it as it's pointed at the man watching him too intently for a  
yard sale. "We can take a selfie with it."

Harry's lips quirk into a fond smile, reserved for his truly only. "I don't know what a _selfie_  
is, petal."

Louis fake gasps and snaps a photo of Harry unintentionally, really gasping right afterwards. He  
turns away from the owners of the house so he isn't put in trouble for wasting without buying.  
Harry throws his head back, hand over his heart as he roars with laughter. Louis pouts but smiles at  
the parent who is running this yard sale when she walks by.

"You are adorable, my petal. Come here." Harry protects Louis under the shield of his embrace, the  
smaller of the two easily fitting snuggle against him. "I think this yard sale is a bit too intense for  
my petal."

Nose-to-nose, Louis can only smile and blame the cherry redness of his cheeks on the heat. "Maybe  
a bit _and_ you won't take a selfie with your petal."

Harry grants him an eskimo kiss and takes the polaroid off Louis' hands. "We're getting this and if  
the significance of a _selfie_ dictates the standards of this relationship then I will gladly take  
one with you."

Louis pecks his cheek. "I'd appreciate it, Daddy."

Harry tightens his muscles where they held onto his beautiful lover, feeling his skin heat up where  
his scars are on Louis' body. Louis' slender waist with the soft curves of a rare beauty has skin so  
papery thin that his ribs stretch out from under it.

The moment Louis is awarded his selfie is a precious one. He is maintained in a steady grip while  
Harry's fingers dig into his hip, setting him back down to his height disadvantage. Harry got the  
opportunity to angle the polaroid camera at arm's length. Only half of the man's face ends up in the  
photograph because he turns to the side, lips on Louis' cheek while Louis' fingers fanned out over  
cheek. Their smiles were wide and neither were looking at the camera, but it couldn't be more  
perfect for their circumstance without Edward.

Louis imagines getting him in a selfie will be much harder.

Releasing the challenging minx in his hold, Harry shakes his head while Louis skips their current  
isle and onto the next. He follows closely of course and Louis still has to hold that morbidly  
horrendous cat cookie jar, but things like that didn't really matter all that much.

In the end, despite all their tries to find other things to purchase so they can call this date a success,  
they found nothing of real value to take away. Harry paid for the camera and cookie jar from a  
bundle of notes that came out of his back pocket. Louis thanked the nice lady who handled the  
transaction and they started their walk back to the apartment complex on otherwise barren land.  
"Do you think this is one of those neighbourhoods where the kids sell lemonade and ride bicycles in  
the streets?" Louis poses the question to Harry, who has his hair slicked back with constantly  
running his fingers through it.

Harry answers after they're safely on the correct side of the road again. "I suppose it is."

"That would be adorable." Louis thinks of that future not being one that suits them and their  
lifestyle, but an ideal television one anyway.

"Wait, petal." Harry pulls him to a halt outside the revolving doors again, the sweet and quaint  
mobile florist being his target. "I owe you something, don't I?"

Louis is confused up until he sees Harry exchanging cash for a single rose bud. He is awed by all  
the colour choices, hybrids and regular shades all lying in bunches in this white wheelbarrow like  
the simplest miracle to ever be. Harry chooses red for him for a first time, getting a smile from the  
seller as they close the deal.

Harry turns to him with the rose in his hand, giving it to Louis right in the middle of the sidewalk.  
"For you, my sweet petal."

"Oh." Louis accepts the offering that made his inside tingle, taking it and holding it close to where  
he can sniff the earthy scent. "Thank you, Harry. It's beautiful."

  
* * * * *  


Louis walked into their bedroom to find that Edward has already organised their entire closet,  
finishing up the last of the hanging clothes. The closet has been divided into three portions, Louis'   
being in the middle. Their clothes weren't colour coordinated or organised by type, but it was still  
significantly neater than Louis' independently.

"How was the yard sale, petal?" Edward smirked as he asked, still shirtless but with wet hair from  
his past shower and damp skin too.

"The date was lovely, thank you for asking." Louis says defiantly, falling under the same spell as  
always when he tries to get fresh clothing but is instead pushed against a closed door.

Edward is in his face with a mighty smug grin held less than an inch away from Louis' temptingly  
innocent one. He places both hands on the sealed door, bracing his body against it and Louis. One  
hand comes up to secure the side of Louis' face that fits in a perfect cradle in his palm.

"Do I have exceedingly high expectations for our date, petal?" Edward brushes his thumb over the  
spot where Louis' eye crinkles would form.

Louis' skin prickles with the charge of their atmosphere, his blood warming up and singing in his  
veins as Edward allows him a glimpse of those pointed molars when he smiles.

"It's not a competition, Daddy." Louis' lips graze over Edward's as he speaks, their close proximity  
becoming so heated.

"No, it isn't." Edward drops his head to where his home was, the slim arch of Louis' neck. His lips  
left the marks already on it comforted with gentle kisses. "You were gone for sixty-two minutes. I  
missed you very much in that time."

Louis would have replied with something snarky but he's the vulnerable one here and is at Edward's  
mercy. "I missed you too, Daddy. You had a shower without me."

Edward covers up his laugh with a pressured bite into Louis' neck, not leaving more than vivid teeth  
marks behind. "I do apologise, petal. Want Daddy to make it up to you?"

It's remarkable how Louis' libido gets activated and melted into a pile of nothing but greedy  
hormones. He can look into this specific genuine shade of emerald green and become whatever they  
wanted if they just spoke the words. He opened his mouth to say something but Edward's lips are  
_right there_ and they're too sinfully sculpted to be ignored.

He pulls Edward to him by his nape, smashing their lips together so he can have an infinite taste of  
the darkest magic. With a loud gasp of air and willpower, Louis' restraint and physical strength is  
demolished. None of them have any plans to be traditional about christening the new apartment, as  
they all feel recognising such a custom could make things feel more dramatic than they actually are.  
Keeping that in mind, Edward carries Louis through a river of boxes towards the bed and dumps  
him on it. His clothes are stripped and soon Edward's follow. Louis manages to crawl up to be laid  
out amongst some of the pillows, most being brand new and still in plastic packaging. He expects to  
be clouded over and covered with a body nearly twice his size but instead these large and firm  
hands circle his thighs, yanking them apart and pinning them down.

"I'll be making it up to you down here." Edward does come up from between Louis' legs to gently  
nose at the line of his jugular and kiss over it. "Will that be okay, petal?"

"Yes." Louis had to wait for the question to be over to answer and so it came out a bit rushed.

Again, after expecting something else he instead gets the least careful smack to his thigh. The  
stinging impact leaves him whimpering and bending his knees to cross his legs over Edward's back.

"Y-Yes, Daddy." He rectifies the mistake, skin having turned a bright red colour where Edward's  
hand hit.

Edward just conveys his approval with a grunt and quick kiss on Louis' ear lobe. He slithers back  
down with Louis' fascinated eyes and enraptured attention following him on his quest. The boy's  
milky thighs are hooked over Edward's shoulders, mounds of supple flesh securing his head  
between them.

Louis watched, frozen by the snake of arousal in his belly, as Edward sunk his teeth into that flesh  
and sucked _hard_ like he got sustenance from it. His body jerked and his voice narrowed into  
a hiss, his fists buried in sheets and heels digging into Edward's back.

He let his legs fall open slightly in a way that put his knees at an angle, exposing more of himself to  
Edward's mouth. Edward released his thigh for kneading by his hands only, meeting Louis' eye just  
to smirk and lower his lips to where Louis was hardening. He trailed his finger up the length,  
followed by his tongue and a harsh suckle on the head that made Louis cry out.

Edward slipped his hands underneath Louis' body and drew it up into the air, his back curved off the  
mattress and his puckered hole under the ministrations of Edward's tongue. The wet, skilled muscle  
drags over the pink rim to taste and enjoy. Then it took its time wetting the wrinkled surrounding  
skin, pressing and flicking at some places.

Louis moaned loudly and fisted Edward's damp hair with one hand, holding himself down to the  
man's face. He closed his eyes and lost his control to the sensations pulsating through him. Edward  
opened his mouth and sealed it over Louis' hole, the boy's breath stuttering as he jabbed at the  
clenching entrance with his tongue.

"Still." Edward scolded Louis when he got too fidgety. "Still, petal, or I will stop. Do you want me  
to stop?"

"N-No." Louis said truthfully, his hole rubbing against Edward's tongue in a way that drove him to a  
sharp edge.

Edward had his bum propped up and the available skin was so easy to spank, the burn of his palm  
and Louis' ass taking longer to dissipate.

"No, Daddy." Louis felt tears gather in his eyes.

He nearly screamed loud enough to hurt his lungs that vibrated in his chest when Edward got the tip  
of his tongue in. Initially, he tried to escape the pleasure as it stretched him but Edward held him  
down and licked into him more hungrily.

Louis tightened his smaller fists in the hastily unfolded sheets and Edward's hair, grinding down on  
the tongue that was invading him. Edward retracted the intrusion and went about kissing Louis'  
inner thighs and perineum for a short while. He pushed Louis' legs up to his chest as they folded, his  
parting with them a vague misery. 

"Hold them, petal." Edward chuckled when Louis mewled, helpless and leaking precome onto his  
tummy.

Louis' hands left their previous occupations and he gripped his own knees at the crooks, keeping  
them spread open. Edward now had Louis exposed to him in the most ideal way, his darkened eyes  
glistening with hunger and lust. His palms tested out the burn in Louis' behind by hitting him there  
twice more, pairing it with the pain of a stretch so drastic to render him whining.

Edward had Louis' ass off the bed, licking a stripe over the crease and nipping at his balls. He went  
back to his pretty hole, wet and clenching, right after. Keeping his fingers out of it, Edward  
stiffened his tongue and pressed it to the tight muscle. It slipped in a little more than the first time  
and he teased Louis' insides with inadequate moisture.

Louis absolutely lost his mind when Edward sucked on his rim like he was the best taste in the  
world, most divine and most rare. His body gave out and the inner skin was sucked out into the  
man's mouth. Edward's obscene slurping noises made Louis' toes curl and heart gallop. Louis was  
given a breather before the man attacked again.

Thoroughly loving his time spent eating Louis out like he's his last meal, Edward groaned with his  
face pressed to the boy's most private area and the vibrations sent aftershocks through Louis'  
spineless body. Louis quivered and got closer to coming, but it wasn't enough until Edward gathered  
saliva on his tongue and let it drip onto Louis' hole. His lips spread the wetness and Louis shook  
violently as he came, shooting hot white ropes onto his abdomen.

Edward let him get through it, working his spasmic body into the high with his tongue and lips. He  
was neglecting his own orgasm and soon crawled his way up to Louis' level, looking him dead in  
the eye.

"I don't come anywhere besides inside you." He said it like it was a holy, worldly truth with black  
eyes and red lips from the most attractive demon.

Louis got the message even with hid muddled mind. He turned over even if that position wasn't  
necessary and let Edward bury himself inside him with no more than a shout and teeth gritting  
moan. His elbows burned against the springs of the mattress, Edward's sharp teeth at his nape as he  
started to move.

Their bodies moved as one and Louis got jerked up the bed as the whole structure shifted. Louis'  
thoughts were disintegrated and his words were jumbled, no other way of expression besides  
pushing back and taking the hit of Edward's hard thighs against his bum.

He held onto the headboard to keep from banging into it, little puffs of broken noises leaving him as  
Edward pounded into him. Edward relentlessly fucked him with closed eyes and hands on Louis'  
hips, throwing his head back and freezing when he emptied himself into his lovely boyfriend. He  
held on so tightly, with such vigour as their bodies slammed into each other in a sweaty mess, that  
Louis let those hot tears flow down his face.

Salt was the taste dominating his mouth before Edward's hand clawed its way to his cheek. One dug  
into his hip, a deep growl making its way through his throat and helping to pin Louis down. Edward  
let their mouths mesh and his face was scrunched into a concentrated frown.

"Good boy." Edward kissed Louis' ear as it's all he could reach. 

"Love you, Daddy." Louis mumbled sweetly, eyes slipping shut once again.

Louis' shivers were toned down to light jittering. Involuntarily, his body convulsed one last time and  
pulled moans from them both when his insides tightened around them. He fell forward after that and  
Edward pitied his sensitivity enough to pull out.

"Want a plug, baby?" Edward rubbed Louis' back where knots were most likely to form.

Louis' yawn was his only answer. His petal has had a busy day today so he just gets up and fetches  
the desirable without further question. The only lubrication it gets is from sticking it in his mouth  
before putting it in place with a satisfactory 'pop' in Louis' body.

"Where did you leave my brother, petal?" Edward got into bed after wiping Louis down and not  
bothering with underwear for either of them.

Turning his head to the side, only half of Louis' face is left visible as he smiles weakly. His lower  
back is covered with the sheets and Edward's weight of an arm.

Louis' answer is a quiet murmur and a little suspicious blush. "He's baking cookies."

  
* * * * *  


At the odd hour of something to ten at night, Louis wakes up to the pungent aroma of something  
delicious in the air. He blinks as his eyes adjust to the minimal lighting and reminds himself  
subconsciously that he's in the right place by the new phone on his night stand and the presence of  
Edward spooning him.

He manages to get out from under Edward's grip and tiptoe his way towards a pile of clothing, of  
which he chooses only a shirt to put on. After bending over rather than crouching, he has to cover  
his mouth to stifle his abrupt moan from the physical reminder of a plug in him.

Luckily, it's Harry who he finds moments later still working in the kitchen but with clean-up. Louis  
comes in on bare feet and yawning, smiling when Harry smiles first. The older male finishes up by  
the sink and wipes his hands in a towel, in the same attire as earlier.

"Did I wake you, petal?" Harry asks the sleepy boy who wiggles his way under his arm on his side.  
Louis shakes his head and follows his nose to the cooling racks on the kitchen counter. Most of their  
kitchen supplies have been unpacked and what little groceries they acquired from a nearby grocer  
already stocked. He admires the cookies on the their steel trays, picking up one of the longer  
standing ones to taste.

"These are good." He comments with a grin partially concealed with his hand as he saves the  
breaking pieces from falling.

"Thank you, petal." Harry kisses his forehead and picks up a crumb from his cheek for the  
compliment. "There are three flavours."

Louis' attention immediately dives back into the three cooking trays. He can make out the chewy  
one in his mouth is chocolate chip, and thinks the other two could be oatmeal and ginger by the   
orange tint. Harry comes back to him with a glass of milk and Louis doesn't have to hold the  
tumbler to be fed it.

"I don't think the cat cookie jar is big enough." He tells Harry honestly, looking at the offending  
object that is awaiting a purpose.

Harry smirks at Louis picking up his second cookie, the treat managing to be bigger than his fingers  
can handle. "We'll just have to stay up all night and eat the extra ones."

Louis laughs softly and let's Harry hoist him up onto the counter so his legs can dangle off the edge  
on either side of him. He breaks the cookie in his hand in half and feeds Harry half. Those magical  
pink lips wrap around the whole thing and kiss Louis' fingertips so he'll giggle.

While Harry chews, Louis licks the crumbs off his own fingers and picks up another. Harry's  
cookies taste like roasted marshmallows and the best kind of warmth. He chooses oatmeal this time  
tastes raisins in them, letting Harry have a bite of the toasty goodness too.

"I don't think I'll be cooking in our home anymore." Louis voices with a gentle nudge to Harry's jaw  
with his nose. "You're going to do all of the cooking."

"Am I?" Harry puts Louis' arm over his shoulder and the boy's hand instantly goes to his hair where  
it twirls some of the curls there.

"You're a better chef than I am." Louis turns into a preening pixie boy when Harry gives his neck a  
raspberry kiss. "How did you learn?"

"My mother." Harry answers without hesitation, although it stuns Louis a little.

"Really?" Louis swallows. "How young were you?"

"About-" Harry takes the question casually and doesn't see the harm in it. "-six when she first let me  
be in the kitchen with her while she cooked. I was ten when I was first allowed to actually do  
something."

Louis thinks back that many years to a ten year old Harry in a kitchen with his mother preparing  
dinner or Sunday lunch. It brings a smile to his face to mentally project such a innocent image from  
way back then. What followed that time was brimming with raw ugliness and horror.

"You took a liking to it immediately then?" Louis doesn't let the conversation slip, grappling at this  
glimpse beyond the green curtain into Harry's past.

"Yes." Harry nods but then frowns. "None of it matters now that she doesn't care."

"Oh love." Louis gets his hands pushed away from Harry's face. "Don't say that, Harry."

"We're dropping this." Harry's voice turns icy, curt and unlike his persona from seconds ago. His  
mercurial tendency has resurfaced.

Louis sees how much the subject bothers Harry after something in his mind clicks like a trap-door.  
It slams shut over a whole load of nasty memories and makes Harry's emotions well up into  
something terribly misleading. He's caught between vindictive anger and vile hatred and  
heartbreaking disappointment. 

Harry's bottom lip wobbles but the frown that's solidified on his features makes him bite it painfully,  
strengthen himself where he felt weak and a liability. He's getting wrecked from the inside and  
Louis goes to apologise.

"Harry-"

Louis doesn't get the whole sentence out because his cheek receives a sudden blow that results in a  
curt collision with the pillar to his left. His forehead hits the edge and it's a pain like nothing more  
primitive or _punishing_ that echoes through his skull.

Harry _hit_ him and Louis sees blood when he touches his forehead, looking at the man in  
crippling fear.

"Petal-" Harry realises his mistake and tries to stop Louis from sliding off the island with such  
wobbly reflexes.

Louis is too afraid of him in that moment to let himself be touched. Every good thing that's  
happened between them today goes down the drain when he screams. "Don't touch me!"

Harry's chest tightens with regret and he pulls away mostly from respect for Louis' command.  
"Petal, I'm so sorry."

Louis has every right to ignore him the way he does and run out of the kitchen like Harry was a  
monster. Harry chases after him with a dead heart and his legs give out when Louis slams a door in  
his face.

"Petal!" His fist hits the painted wood as he slides down to his knees. "Petal, baby. I'm sorry!"  
He ends up spending the entire night on his knees outside the bedroom door, ignored and  
unforgiven.


	38. Chapter Thirty-Eight

***NARRATOR'S POV***  
The Styles babies were born on February first in the gloomy year of 1989.   
The weather was sickly  
that day, grey clouds and even greyer people, like this was dictating all that their lives would  
surround. Sadness and death, as Anne had passed three funerals on her ambulance ride to the  
hospital.

She gave birth at something to midnight and the epidural did little to lessen her pain as she  
recollected the conception of her precious babies. The man had been a monster but her babies were  
not. They cried with powerful lungs and wiggled as wet messes in her arms, no one beside her to  
congratulate her, but she kissed their foreheads and told them that she loved them.

Their hair was so white, their little pink faces and limbs so pure and innocent. They cried with  
closed eyes and Anna felt the happiest she's ever been.

When she was allowed to take them home, her move was right into the manor where she grew up.

Styles Manor. 

She wasn't a Styles but her family worked here for years and just one night, fateful or  
tragic, she lay with a man who landed her in this position. A psychopath down to the very core, the  
man who gave her babies their white hair.

Edward and Harry Styles became her everything.

Anne never dated or made new friends. Sacrificing her sleep and nutrition meant nothing if her  
babies were kept healthy. Edward cried the most as a baby while Harry seemed to be observing  
everything. She would spend hours just walking around the giant estate trying to calm her elder son  
down, him addicted to her heartbeat and she to his presence.

  
* * * * *  


Edward was convinced that turning six would be a disaster. Aging seemed so vile a topic already,  
while Harry made himself have the same opinion to impress his older brother. They've been fighting  
a lot lately, and as a result have been made to have their baths _together_ with absolutely no  
hot water.

"Pup?" Edward knew he had the upper hand on his brother already. It was evident from the way  
Harry never left his side.

Harry's eyes were focused on the water in the tub they shared, creating ripples with his hand even  
though he was scared to go too big and disturb Edward. He can be a nuisance sometimes and he  
knows that, but he doesn't know that his older sibling wouldn't trade him for anything.

"Wanna take turns?" Edward proposed, as he did every time they took a bath together.

Harry eagerly nodded and already had the oval-shaped soap bar in his hand. He waited for Edward  
to turn around between his legs before starting his duty with the utmost responsibility. He washed  
Edward's frosty white hair and thought about how it didn't suit him. He washed away the  
metaphorical grime of a day spent digging up pet graves in the back yard. 

Later that night they were getting ready for a movie night. It was always just the two of them  
because everyone else in the house wanted to sleep. Their mother never found a problem in two  
_almost_ six year old's wanting to watch films late at night.

"What can we watch?" Edward spoke to himself while Harry went to the kitchen and peered into  
their popcorn bowl while their mother loaded it up.

"Now, boys." She came into the living room ahead of Harry, the latter being overly excited for their  
traditional plans. "No messing the lounge no matter how excited you get."

Edward chose _Nightmare on Elm Street_ and Harry threw their blanket across the couch. He  
got under it with his pale feet sticking out the other end while Edward managed controlling the  
DVD player. It was a real challenge the first time he did it but now the routine is simple.

"Goodnight." She, in her comfy grey sleep wear, gave them both forehead kisses and walked out  
after all the lights were off. "I love you!"

"Love you too!" Harry turned his whole body around to tell her retreating back, waving and  
grinning when she did. He's always been closest to her.

They settled down for their movie and Edward's head ends up on Harry's shoulder, their usual  
cuddling position resumed. Harry gets one of his folded legs across Edward's lap and they are once  
again in a puzzle-piece position that allows Edward to fondly caress his knee whenever he wants to.

"This movie is bad." Edward says with a frown. "It's boring."

"I like it." Harry disagrees, distracted as his body slowly beckons sleep.

Edward knows Harry likes when their mother kisses his forehead so he replicates the act, and in the  
years to come it would become a brotherly custom.

  
* * * * *  


Harry derails from those customs when they're eighteen and the year 2007 brings them an  
abundance of trouble.

"Where did you say you're going?" Edward follows Harry around their shared bedroom with his  
arms crossed and blood boiling.

Harry is getting dressed, slipping on a black T-shirt over his bare chiselled chest - that's miraculous  
even for him - and a belt. "A bar with my friends."

"What _friends_?" Edward's seething nature amuses Harry who has recently shown a liking for  
his brother's anger. "Harry!"

"Whether I go or not is not your business!" Harry fires back, abruptly stopping on his hunt for shoes  
to turn red in the face. "You don't control me, Edward!"

"The fuck I don't." Edward had him physically backed into a corner in their closet and he lowered  
his voice to appear more calm when on the inside he was a bubbling mess. "You're _my_  
brother."

"And you're mine." Harry doesn't flinch when Edward steps closer, the fine hairs on their skin  
brushing as molten green met with frozen forestry. "I don't bully you, do I?"

"You think I bully you?" Edward pretended that didn't sting a little and clenched his jaw.

"You're always telling me what to do and I'm sick of it." Harry's gravely tone burns Edward's  
senses. "I don't have friends and you're the reason why!"

"Am I?!" Edward shoves Harry's shoulder with _force_ and he stumbles back. "You're my  
brother and I _protect_ you! Now that I'm aware how ungrateful you are, you can look after  
yourself!"

Edward storms out of the closet right after his eruption and Harry doesn't follow him, just sits on the  
ground where he landed and takes deep breaths. Sometimes he feels nothing short of tormented and  
miserable, like something that's been festering for years is clawing its way up his throat and  
threatening to lash out at everyone.

Harry feels like a downright dick for the way he spoke to his older brother, his rock. He sighs and  
his body shakes with impending sobs that never surface, the ugliest of crimes being that which he  
just committed.

"Harry?" This intruding voice is his mother's and he looks up at her with glossy eyes, helpless and  
wanton. "Oh honey."

Anne comes to his aid, always has. She drops the laundry she was handling and joins him on the  
floor with her comfortable slacks and old shirt. Harry hugs her and breathes in her floral scent, just  
the same as when he was a third of his age now.

"What happened, sweetheart? Your brother looked so cross when I saw him in the passage." Anne  
combs through her son's white hair with her gentle fingertips, kisses his forehead and let's him cling  
to her for dear life.

"Love you, Ma." Is all he says, muffled by his lips on her shirt. He gives her a little kiss where he is  
so that it lands at the top of her breast.

"I love you too, baby boy."

She resists any temptation and whining there is from him to be 'breastfed' as he so craves whenever  
he's upset. There was no milk to give and he's always asked for that physical connection no matter  
his age. It was so very sweet of him because Anne knew her younger boy was a little special.

"Did you do anything unordinary today?" She asks in his ear, and receives a shake of Harry's head  
in response. "No?"

Harry nods, giving her another kiss and closing his eyes to let her warmth wrap around him. "I was  
rude to Edward."

"What did you say to him?" Anne knows Edward is the more independent son, always has been. He  
never needed affection the way Harry did.

"That he's the reason I don't have friends." He hugs her slim waist with both his muscular arms so  
she can't push him away. "He isn't the reason and I'm sorry."

"Well you have to tell him that, don't you?" She encouragingly rubs his shoulder and smiles.

"Can I go now?" He asks with hopeful green eyes looking up to his mother's. "I want to apologise  
now."

"I think he went out and you can't drive yet, love. Wait for him to come back, okay?"

Harry didn't want to wait that long because what if Edward was angry enough with him to never  
come back? He couldn't allow himself to live in his big brother's bad books. Determined, he rushes  
to his feet and dashes out of the closet without another word said to his mother. She laughs and  
shakes her head before getting back to her laundry load.

Having no other option, Harry takes a cab to where Gerard directed him. He waited impatiently in  
the back-seat with just enough cab fare squashed in his palm and still bare-foot. Edward always  
came to this part of the vast park when he wanted to cool off or take Harry somewhere. They could  
sit under the moon for hours without talking or moving.

Tonight, Edward was here with other people that Harry didn't recognise and it angered him. It made  
him see red to see his brother around other people who didn't know him. He also feels the  
realisation sink in that Edward feels the same way about his interactions away from their  
relationship. It shouldn't be allowed.

"Edward!" He tried calling the second he was out of the taxi, tripping on the step he missed to be  
free so quickly.

Edward either didn't hear him or ignored him as he kept on walking. It was hardly a comfort to see  
that Edward wasn't exactly with the other people at a park bench too many meters away. He keeps  
running until he's forced to stop when he sees an unnatural communication between his brother and  
the broadest of the all-male group travelling nearby.

Harry watches with a tilted head as Edward gets all but harassed by these individuals. Edward  
doesn't even care to listen by the way he glares, turns around and walks back in Harry's direction  
unintentionally. Besides sparking something toasty in Harry's chest, it ignites a strange flame in his  
ribcage that makes him hideously mad.

That night was Harry's first human kill and he felt too light on his shoulders when he stretched them  
in rotation. He had blood on his hands from three men and he couldn't see it, all the shame and  
remorse he's supposed to feel began to take up space in that blood until it turned to ash. It flew away  
in the cold night air, brushing his skin and hair in his mind.

It was a twisted initiation and it was _beautiful._

It tasted so sweet and smelt so divine. Without seeing beyond his broken imagination out into the  
bodies at his feet, Harry loved the feeling of the demon caught in his head finally being moulded to  
fit him. They were one and it didn't hurt so much. 

"Harry?" Edward was still there. He stood by patiently without helping and offering advice, awed  
and disgusted by Harry's stealthy prowess.

Rushing to his feet, Harry tried dusting his hands on his jeans. In his head the grey ash lightly got  
off, but in actual reality the blood smeared the dark fabric.

"You made a mess, Harry." Edward spoke in a soft voice, eyes gentle as he addressed his spooked  
brother. "Come here, pup."

Edward easily forgave Harry after what he'd just seen. He opened his arms and Harry settled into  
them, nuzzling his neck with blood on his face. Harry hugged Edward with all the strength he could  
muster and closed his eyes to enjoy the comfort. Edward neatened his hair and kissed his cheek  
where the blood was, both their shadows hidden by a giant weeping willow.

"I'm sorry." Harry mumbled, ashamed to have to say it after what he'd done to offend his brother.

"Hush. It's okay now." Edward knows how emotional Harry can get if he isn't reassured from the  
start.

"I love you." Harry nudged the side of Edward's face until he made certain his message was  
delivered.

"I love you too, Harry." Edward gave his nose a kiss and didn't change his facial expression from a  
worried frown. "Are you going to help me clean up your mess?"

Harry grinned, a grin becoming pasted on his face. Blood dripped into those artful dimples and  
gathered there like sadistic pools. Edward couldn't be more proud of him.

  
* * * * *  


The bed creaked and the headboard banged into the wall continually in an even rhythm. Noises  
from two people filled the air, floating to the top of the room where it remained stagnant and moist  
from their bruised lips. Edward held onto Harry's hips and moved them in ways he wanted, not  
allowing Harry to stray from that pattern on his lap.

Harry held onto the wooden support system with both hands, breathing heavily as he leaned down  
and kissed Edward's urgent lips. He groaned and flattened his feet under Edward's thighs, riding  
him with more earnest as he held onto one side of his face.

"Why don't we get to share a bed?" Harry asked out of the blue, pelvis circling Edward's c*ck as he  
clenched and bit his lip.

Edward's growl had Harry slamming his hips down and moaning from the sudden thrust into his  
unaccustomed body. His nails dug into varnished wood and his skin began to drip with sweat,  
Edward's mouth lapping at the lavish taste on his chest.

"Shut _up_-" Edward breathed heavily, regular pattern of his teeth sinking into Harry's  
clavicle. "-and go harder."

Harry lives to please his brother and so obeys without further commanding. Panting and groaning  
high in his sore throat, Harry gets roughly flipped over so he's under Edward. His face hits the  
pillow and his breath is knocked out of him. Edward's hand digs into his back so he's further pressed  
into the structure.

"You looked so good earlier." Edward wrapped his hand around Harry's throat and tightened up, his  
body jerking as he admired Harry's behind by fucking into it wildly. He punctuated each word with  
a hard thrust that arched Harry's back with force. "So. Fucking. Good."

Taking this as his best compliment, Harry preens under the irreplaceable attention and he screams  
when his body is held down to be pounded. He loved domination almost as much as submission,  
wishing even now to find someone much later who would love him unconditionally for it.

  
* * * * *  


"What did you _do_, Edward?" Anne quizzed her older son of the two when they both got  
home after an unknown outing.

Edward's teeth were filed and they horrified her. She sat him down on a chair and opened his mouth  
by force to check the pearly molars that have been sharpened to a point around the nerve, no pain  
felt whatsoever.

"I like them, Ma." Harry contributed his valuable opinion, all fond-eyed and pinching his lip  
between his fingers.

"I do too." Edward said, adding a new lisp to his words that he's never had before.

Anne gasps upon hearing it, shocked that her son would deteriorate himself in such a fashion. He  
looks so happy with it and she lightly slaps his cheek in a way that makes him chuckle more than  
grimace.

"Idiot." She ruffles his hair and kisses his forehead. "Go play with your toys and leave me alone  
now."

Edward hugged his mother from where he's seated, wrapping his arms around her soft middle and  
sighing contentedly into her chest. She gets released after her doubts are put to rest, their devotion  
to her once again reinstated by their actions of love.

"Go." Anne chases them out of her kitchen, whacking Harry's bum with a twisted towel so he'll  
cackle and exit. "Did you boys get your suits for tonight?"

"Not yet." Comes one of their voices in reply, the deeper undertones indicating to her that it's  
Edward.

"Well go get it!" She shouts back at that voice, her parental authority shining through.

Tonight is their annual Halloween masquerade ball and Anne has been working with the rest of the  
staff at Styles Manor to get everything ready in time. It was going to be magical and she paid a  
handsome amount more than other years because she wanted her boys to look stellar. It was time   
someone else became the center of their world - using the singular because she knew how  
_close_ they were.

"Edward, come tie this." Harry stood by the full length mirror in his jet black timeless suit piece and  
an undone bow-tie.

"When will you learn?" Edward asked but went to him anyway, and aptly completed the tying of the  
bow-tie.

Harry need not button Edward's suit jacket but he does anyway, all six to the top. He even bravely  
kisses Edward's cheek and walks away before anything can be done about it.

As highly anticipated as the evening was, neither Edward or Harry would have known that their  
mother would be dancing with _someone else_ rather than them when they asked. Harry was  
pouting about it behind his wine of blood red wine.

"Who is he?" Harry asked his brother, his back turned to the scene where amongst the massive  
crowd their parent was laughing along in conversation with a masked male stranger.

"I don't know." Edward took a heavy sip of his golden champagne, jaw clenched tightly. "We're not  
doing anything about it."

"Why not?" Harry nearly whined, getting cut shot by Edward's stern glare. "Sorry."

"She won't be leaving us for him." Edward reassures both their insecurities about being replaced.

"She _won't._"

  
* * * * *  


"Ma?" Harry walked into the Manor after returning from their favourite cabin with Edward, mood  
sinking to an underground ditch when he sees these _official_ faces in their home.  
Anne breaks into sobs that he hides behind her hand and her fiance's shoulder. Harry's worry  
becomes overwhelming and his need to comfort her overrules him, which makes him engulf her in a  
careful hug.

"What's wrong, Ma?" He asks, ignoring the men with badges and other frightening equipment.

Edward drops a heavy overnight bag on the floor and all eyes turn to him when he takes in his  
brother and mother. He knows what this is, aware of how ugly this can turn out to be. They're going  
to be taken away by police and the Madhouse attendants. Anne is still crying, clutching Harry's shirt  
with both hands as her body shook with grief. She also knew what this is.

"Harry." Edward calls out, concerned about whether or not his brother is going to understand what's  
happening.

"Edward, Ma's upset." Harry states the obvious, heartbroken himself as he consoles his stricken  
mother.

"I know. Come here." Edward says anyway, swallowing the deeply sickening feeling of defeat as  
his sibling shuffles reluctantly over to him. "Look at me."

Edward knew what was going to happen and he knew how alarmed Harry would grow to be so he  
planned to handle that trauma for as long as he could before anything broke out. He saw the doctor  
stepping forward behind Harry with a filled syringe of something that will knock him out.

"Harry." Edward said again, clearing his throat of any emotion to keep the lie of the moment in  
control. "You okay, pup?"

Harry didn't catch on yet. "Kinda hungry."

Under _any_ other circumstances, Edward would have laughed or smiled at the very least.  
"Yeah me too."

After the syringe got inserted and the sedative got into their bloodstreams, they were carried out of  
consciousness into a place that would render them the best and worst of their lives.

  
* * * * *  


When their biological father, Dexter, made an appearance for the first time in the Madhouse they  
were told to bring him the most beautiful creature they'd ever laid eyes on. It was their first task to  
prove their loyalty and Edward was so eager to do so, up until he actually saw the creature breathe  
the same air as him.

After that, they were both slaves to anything and everything that boy with enchanting blue eyes told  
them.


	39. Chapter Thirty-Nine

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry for my absents my guinea pig that ive had for 3 yaars had passed away after hes been losing weight for a week so ive been down about it and had to have him cremated yesterday but now i think ill be back

***NARRATOR'S POV***

Louis sprinted out of the kitchen where he could no longer stand the silent tension of his abuse.  
Harry had _hit_ him and that broke so much of his trust that Louis could barely use his legs  
properly without a breakdown. His thighs felt like mass jelly and his head hurt like a knife had been  
plunged into it.

As soon as his feet hit the ground though, he escaped to the safety of their bedroom. Here he was  
protected by a door and it made ignoring Harry's desperate cries for him easier as he backed away  
from it, chest heaving and mind empty.

Violence was no longer a fear or trigger for him. It was a brightly coloured warning sign for the  
detrimental downward spiral of his mind. Ever since he had seen what no mother's son should -  
irrespective of circumstance - any indication of violence put him in a great disadvantage.

He began to feel himself slipping again, the wound on his head tipping his entire core over and his  
drop to delirium becoming inevitable. In the bathroom, he kneeled over the toilet and everything  
that entered his system in the past couple of hours burned an outward route through his oesophagus.  
Gagging and tearing up, Louis' body trembled with the internal fire combating the horror of frozen  
tile. He choked on air and tasted his own tears, muscles weakening drastically until his stomach was  
empty and he sagged against the clawfoot tub.

Louis' cheek was bruising and his forehead was swelling up. He looked like a mess with purple skin  
and blood dripping down the side of his face, each one timing a second left before he fell  
unconscious. Now that everything foul had been rebuked and ejected, he no longer felt like he was  
decomposing from the inside.

He regretted pressing the subject of Harry and Edward's mother. It was also not his fault because he  
was going to _apologise_ when stupid Harry didn't listen long enough. Nagging at the back of  
his mind, is the reminder that he cannot forgive this. Not now at least.

Harry only hit him last in the Madhouse before anything drastic to come to exist between them.  
There was no love and no affection at the time, just his lust and Louis' submission. For Harry to  
have repeated that act of domineering unkindness, it forced Louis to think back to that day and how  
a love could be so weak that Harry thought nothing to hit him.

Maybe he didn't really love him and said it because he could. Louis shivered to think of it. He  
knows Harry feels strongly for him without an ounce of doubt, but he's supposed to be bettering  
himself and not relapsing. One way or another, Louis is not going to let this one slide.

Everything became darker than it actually was for a moment, before coming back to life. His mind  
was slowly re-tipping itself onto the right axis so that his sanity was restored, his strength all but  
diminished. 

"Petal?" Came a voice so sound in its protective nature, the tone of husky enquiry lacing it.

Louis mentally reached out to it with both hands but all his physical form did was turn his head in  
that direction. The bathroom light came on and Edward stood in the doorway, frozen with two  
hurricanes for eyes.

"Petal?!" His voice became more urgent, and in return a little muted, as Edward's knees hit the  
ground by Louis' hip and he hauled the boy into his arms.

This is where Louis appreciated being most, wrapped up in the arms of someone who loved him. He  
knows Harry loves him but the awful throbbing inside his skull begs to differ. Edward inspects the  
injury with careful precision, standing up with Louis seated on a closed toilet seat after flushing.  
Louis comes back down to planet Earth in time to dry heave unattractively into the front of  
Edward's shirt, trying to get as much clean air in as possible.

"Petal. Baby, look at me." Edward kneels with a clean wet hand-towel in his hand, the whole limb  
trembling involuntarily as he wipes the wound clean.

"I-I'm f-f-fine." Louis' shivers are unstoppable as he holds onto Edward's wrists so he's safely  
anchored.

"You may be-" Edward's voice turns stone cold. "-but I'm not."

Louis finds two separate storms in the eyes of his lover when he looks up. He sniffles with a wet  
nose and eyes, clinging to the fabric of Edward's sleeping shirt. He is held onto just as desperately  
until he's certain he can stand on his own.

"What-What are you going to do?" Louis tries not to stammer, but ends up doing so because of  
Harry's shout interrupting him.

"Enforce a simple rule, petal. Nothing more." Edward's calm composure had the ability to throw  
Louis off. "My brother should never raise his hand to you, not after everything you've seen with us."

Edward turns stiff as stone while escorting Louis back to bed, after ensuring that Louis' injury  
wouldn't bleed beyond what it had. He tucks Louis in all the same, doing a marvellous job of  
ignoring Harry's calls and pleas from the other side of the locked door.

"Go to sleep. Can you do that for me, petal?"

Edward lays Louis' head down on the pillow and kisses the blue bump on the boy's forehead, his  
anger so livid that it causes tremors through his body. He sucks in a sharp breath when his lips meet  
Louis' skin, closing his burning eyes so they don't tear up with how passionately the flame of his  
rage is burning.

"Daddy, stay." Louis doesn't release Edward when he's meant to, eyes enlarging to baby-like  
desperation. "Stay with me."

"Hush, darlin'." Edward takes Louis' hands and kisses the inside of his palms. "I'll come back, petal.  
I promise."

"Let me sleep first." Louis says in a convicting sniffle, cheeks wet and now Edward's shirt too.   
"Alright."

Edward forfeits his mission temporarily and climbs under the covers with his petal, throwing his  
arms around the boy as his mouth gravitated towards that soft neck where he found his belonging.  
Louis craned his neck upward on the pillow, allowing Edward more access to rest against the  
reassuring pulse of his jugular. It wasn't just either brother who felt warmth and comfort when they  
were that close.

What got Louis' heartbeat to throw itself off a ledge as it thumped heavily in his chest, was the  
sudden sound of Edward _singing_. In his usual low husky voice came a steady and rough  
chorus of something

"Sleep sleep sleep. Don’t lie too close to the edge of the bed, or little grey wolf will come and grab  
you by the flank. Drag you into the woods underneath the willow root."

The song's haunted connotations and twisted lyrics is oddly soothing to a part of Louis what's been  
hyped up for too long. He gets his eyes to close and with an affirmative nuzzle against his throat  
from Edward behind him, his mind settles into an eased trance.

Edward's singing voice is relaxing, the little catch of his tongue on certain words and the way he  
can lower the volume until Louis feels like he's isolated with them is uniquely intrinsic. Louis falls  
asleep before anymore hurt from his head can add to the weight on his shoulders, breathing evened  
out and Edward's hand over his chest falling to the rhythm of it.

"Sweet dreams, my petal." Edward manages to ward off any other emotional liabilities for a bit  
longer, wanting to be away from Louis before it gets the better of him.

He gets up off the bed as cautiously as possible, padding over to the door soundlessly and opening it  
with a soft creak. His brother is still just outside the bedroom, on his knees with his head snapping  
up to look at him when Edward walks out.

"Get up." Edward tells him without more than a _glance_ as he shuts the bedroom door and  
walks past Harry.

Harry hastily gets to his feet on uncertain legs and follows after Edward obediently, scared out of  
his wits because his older brother was always so unpredictable. He wasn't punished last time but last  
time was _different_. He wasn't _madly in love_ with Louis before but now he is and he's  
worthy of whatever consequences there are.

"Brother-"

"Shut up." Edward barked, the raw timbre of his frustration getting Harry to obey instantly.

Edward snatches up his copy of the apartment keys and Harry starts to really panic when he's led  
_outside_. He's afraid to step past the door into the hallways where Edward stood impatiently,  
blood turning to frozen ink.

_"Get the fuck out, Harry."_

He takes one last inhale inside the apartment and walks out, still without shoes, into the cold  
passage. Edward slams the door shut and locks it, turning away when Harry opens his mouth to dare  
say something. Harry shuts his mouth and follows with a bowed head towards the elevators.  
The parking lot.

That's where they are and that's where Harry puts some distance between them, once again  
frightened by the demonic stare of his mentor. Edward cares little for the fact that there's a young  
lady rushing to the elevator when he starts talking, shoulders hunched and eyes blackened.

"You don't love him." It's the worst possible thing Edward could say to him, at this moment or any  
other.

Harry has to fight that, destroy the seedling before it's planted in his subconscious. "I love him! I-"

"You don't." The way Edward says it, so nonchalantly like it isn't _killing_ Harry inside. "You  
can't."

It felt like poison. Blood red poison that entered his system and burned his every artery, rupturing  
what was necessary and tearing open with black talons what was most sensitive. Louis' name was  
his calm, his talisman. Now it's the giant that toppled over Harry's center of gravity.

Harry must have looked so distraught, eyes wide and wild as his curled fists burned horrifically. "II-I- Edward, I love him!"

Edward _laughs_ and Harry has never felt more insecure or uncertain in his life. He rubs his  
arms with his hands and looks down at his pale feet that are getting closer to blue.

"You're my brother." Edward picks up on Harry's vulnerable state but that's not why he lessens his  
ridicule. "I love you but Louis is the one person I won't sacrifice for you."

When Harry looks up, there's all the hardness and devotion of a man who has sold his soul to loving  
someone looking back at him. He can't argue with it.

"I thought I could." Edward covers a few strides between them, ending up close enough to cradle  
Harry's face in his hands. "I thought I _would_ but I can't."

"What-"

Edward doesn't want to hear him. "As a brother, I'm telling you to learn to be better for him. As  
Louis' love, I will defend him."

The next thing to come Harry's way when he's expecting sympathy, is a rock of a fist colliding with  
his jaw. The blow knocks him to the ground and he spits blood onto the cold black tar, shaking  
violently. He's not angry with Edward so as to retaliate. He knows it troubled his brother, hurt just  
as much, to throw a punch at him.

"That's all I'm giving you." Edward's on the ground too, circling Harry's shoulders with his arms  
and offering support to the fallen man. He kisses the back of Harry's neck. "Frankly, that's all I can  
make it through."

Harry holds onto Edward's forearm with both hands, rocking back and forth in failed attempts to  
calm himself down. When Edward starts to pull away after a pre-determined amount of time, Harry  
doesn't let him.

"Let go, Harry." Edward has to pry Harry's fingers off him and struggle to stand up, returning to the  
elevators step by step. "You aren't allowed to touch petal. Don't come up tonight either."

Harry's on his feet after hearing that, following Edward even if he isn't supposed to. He's  
_scared_ of being outside their little apartment alone without the ability to call on his only  
safety charm.

"Edward, wait!" He reaches out futilely and Edward slams the button on the elevator panel.  
"Edward!"

The doors close between them before Harry can go as far as sacrificing an arm to not lose that  
connection. He knows he's bleeding where his nails dig into the cold steel, his knees where they've  
scraped the stone too many times. He makes a mournful sound and curls up under the control panel  
for something, alone in the cold and dark.

He has to spend the night here. He can't touch Louis ever again. He knows he deserves it but the  
craving monster inside him longs for Louis' body against his. That smile. That voice. Those kisses.  
How will he ever survive the separation?

  
* * * * *  


"You _left_ him down there?" Louis' disbelief is evident when he's being forced to eat a  
breakfast of scrambled eggs and toast the next morning.

"Yes, petal." Edward answers coolly, covering his yawn because he hadn't slept all night out of  
worry.

"Are you-" Louis cuts himself off by huffing irritatedly and rushing off the stool towards the door.

"I'm going to get him."

"No you aren't, Louis." Edward captures the rushing boy by his waist, falling back against the wall  
when Louis resists him. "Petal, please."

"That was cruel, Edward."

"He hit you." Edward plainly stated, subduing Louis by biting over the scar he put there. "He has to  
be punished."

"Not like this." Louis says shakily. "He shouldn't be alone."

It was so cold last night and maybe Harry can hold his own but the middle of the night can always  
beat a man who's down. Louis has to bring him back up here.

"I decide that, petal." Edward carries Louis by force back to the kitchen. "I will decide what  
happens to my brother."

"I want to see him." Louis says firmly, standing up when he's placed on a chair.

"If you go to him, his punishment falls away and I won't reprimand him for hurting you."

"Edward!" Louis goes again to the door, not really thinking through his decision beyond the fact  
that Harry is alone outside somewhere. "Stop being so difficult about this."

"Did you appreciate him hitting you then? You were upset last night."

"I never thought you'd abandon him like that." Louis picks his key up. "He's your brother."

"And you're his petal but did that stop him from hitting you, Louis?"

"It doesn't-" Louis sighed and tugged on his own hair, feeling the swollen lump on his frontal lobe.  
"I know he's sorry. I am too. Doesn't mean I forgive him nor do I want him-"

"What are you sorry for?"

Louis flips the key over between his hands. "We were talking about your mother and he...he  
erupted. I don't know."

Edward listens and eventually goes as rigid as a statue too. "Petal."

"See!" Louis knows he struck a nerve talking about the twins' mother. He's already fussing with the  
lock on the door. "We just had to talk to it out. Oh Harry."

Edward calls Louis to a stop by grabbing his elbow and pressing him flush against the door, eyes  
hidden by the hood of his feelings and whatever made him feel broken at the seams.

"My brother always had a special bond with our mother. He loved her more than anything or  
anyone else in the world, petal. He still misses her terribly even though he's replaced some of those  
voids she left with you. Fuck! I didn't even ask him."

"It's okay." Louis tries not to let the abhorrent worry fester too greatly in his chest. "It's okay,  
Edward. He knows."

Louis races to the elevators when he's allowed to, Edward on his tail. They reach the underground  
level of parking and Louis frantically scans the area for a familiar mop of curly hair.

"Harry!" He shouts urgently, voice cracking towards the end. "Harry, love?!"

There's a groan to his left and Louis looks down through a mild heart attack, gasping at the horrid  
state of his Harry. Pale, pale skin that's borderline purple and lifeless lips with glassy eyes staring up  
at Louis. Limbs frozen and appendages stiffened. Same thin clothing and tired eyes.

Louis tries not to let the troubles show as he steps over the water puddle near Harry's legs to do  
_something_. Harry's head falls forward against Louis' tummy and Louis knows to put those  
frozen hands on his warm skin, hissing at the contrast. He let's Harry press his face into his front  
and breathe in choppy pants, looking to Edward for help.

  
* * * * *  


"Warmed up?" Louis asks Harry, combing those silky curls with his fingers in small strokes.

He hasn't left Harry's side on their bed since they brought the man up. He's gotten Harry swathed in  
blankets with him cuddled up next to him, offering any warmth he could. Harry hasn't lifted his  
head from Louis' tummy yet except to accept little sips of hot tea. Other than that, he clasped Louis'  
thigh over his hip and closed his eyes.

"Petal, I-I'm sorry." Harry curls an arm around Louis' waist, breathing with an open mouth against  
Louis' front. "I lo-love you."

"Shh. I know." Louis kisses Harry's head, tears brimming for him too. "I know, Harry. I love you  
too."

Edward was too harsh. He's adamant on this conclusion. They could have _lost_ Harry if he  
had been out there a moment longer and Louis would rather forget about the bruise on his face than  
never see Harry again. He would rather not think about it now as he close to squeezes Harry's  
shoulders.

"Won't leave you." Harry persists, shaking his head to be more convincing and pressing elaborate  
kisses wherever his stiff neck will allow on Louis' torso. "Ever. Love you."

"I know." Louis closes his eyes involuntarily and swallows a pained sound as Harry locates the  
cigarette mark at the base of his spine, rubbing his fingers over it for comfort. "Won't ever leave you  
either, Harry. You're my baby right now."

Harry's amusement shows when Louis he hardly chuckles and ends up coughing, rucking up Louis'  
hindering shirt to bury his face deeper into that skin. "Baby."

"Yes, my baby." Louis lightly kisses Harry's hairline.

He tangles his fingers into those unruly curls, letting Harry have anything he wants by latching onto  
his left nipple with remarkably warm lips, traces of tea and spit from stuttered words still there.  
While Harry 'nurses' what comforts him most with little hums and growls coming from the core of  
his chest, Louis kisses small parts of him like his ear or temple.

Still feeling shaken up by the possibility of not waking up to a third body beside him, to Harry most  
of all, Louis couldn't help the bursts of affection he had for the man suckling on nothing but his  
taste. He began to feel hotter than normal when the temperature in their cocoon became suffocating  
him, but Harry was so calm with his eyes closed and lips making tiny movements that he couldn't  
disrupt the tranquil image.

Small drips of moisture peeked out of the corner of Harry's mouth as he refused to pull away for  
breathing. Louis felt the minute droplets of drool like ice to his molten skin.

"All done?" Louis asked when after half an hour, Harry planted his face between his pectorals.

Harry curled up around Louis' body protectively, wiping away the sweat with strokes of his hand.  
"Petal."

"Yes, sweetheart?" Louis was willing to give Harry anything and everything he wanted. 

Harry picks at Louis' shirt again, fussing when it covers the desired nipple he hasn't gotten to taste  
yet. Louis fully removes his shirt and discards it on the floor, allowing Harry the chance to start  
sucking again. The room's air fills up with sounds of Harry's wet noises and tiny nips.

"Won't." Harry swallows around Louis' swollen nub, turning the brown to sensitive pink. "Won't  
hurt you. Never, petal."

"I believe you, Harry." Louis can never escape their cove of security. "I know you won't hurt me  
now."

A knock on the door alerts them that Edward is about to walk in, probably with the toast and soup  
Harry was promised. Louis can hardly lift himself up into a seated position without Harry starting to  
resist verbally. The man looks up with broken puppy eyes and confusion until he's allowed back  
into the fold of Louis' arms. He's actually what becomes Louis' throne by the boy sitting on his lap,  
across his thighs.

"How's he feeling?" Edward set the tray he brought in on the mattress where the sheets weren't near,  
crawling up the bed to sit alongside his sibling and petal.

Harry adamantly avoids Edward's gaze when he follows Louis' hands as they break chunks of bread  
off to dip into the soup. He waits eagerly to be fed, opening his mouth when needed and chewing  
slowly. Louis gives him a kiss for every bite which makes him smile.

"Warmer." Louis says, finally finished with the bread and picks up a spoon to feed Harry the  
chicken soup.

Harry likes being cared for. He enjoys the effort put in by others to make him comfortable but he  
also doesn't like to be dependent for very long. It's not a strong suit in him. Louis _is_ being so  
lovely by sitting on his lap with a mountain of blankets and feeding him tasty soup so maybe it  
could become a strong suit.

"I'm so glad he didn't catch a cold or something worse down there." Louis continues to say, scraping  
some vegetables off the bottom of the bowl to hide amongst chicken when feeding Harry.  
The man puts his head on Louis' shoulder and bumps his cheek with the tip of his nose if he's ready  
for another spoonful.

"I know." Edward agrees, chewing his already raw and slightly bleeding lip to purposely hurt  
himself. "Has he said anything to you?"

"Small stuff." Louis manages a short laugh, feeling maternal when Harry starts mouthing at his neck  
for more soup. "He apologised so many times."

"That's what matters then." Edward puts his hand on the arch of Harry's foot and the latter recoils  
faster then necessary, wrapping his leg around Louis' form and not looking up at his brother at all.

"Don't worry." Louis hurries to say, having a difficult time feeding Harry what is left in the bowl.  
"He's not angry with you, Edward."

"Forgive me if I find that hard to believe." Edward snaps, sighing right after it comes out. "I'm  
sorry, petal."

"It's okay, grumpy pants." Louis rolls his eyes, grovelling at any chance to lighten the tension  
between the brothers. "Maybe you feed him now."

Edward immediately shakes his head no. "Petal-"

"He's not a spooked animal, Edward." Louis places the warm porcelain bowl and steel spoon in the  
man's hands. "He's your brother."

Harry watches on curiously, fingers working on the knot of Louis' sweatpants that have been cut to  
shorts. He appreciates the exposure of his petal's legs.

Edward's never felt more anxious in his life. He knows Louis has a motive for this and loves the  
boy so much for trying already to fix a problem that isn't his. Tentatively, he holds up a spoon   
halffilled with broth closer to Harry's lips. His brother watches the spoon for a second, eyes focused on  
it before briefly flickering to Edward and back. He accepts the offering of peace.

"Thank you." Louis whispered in Harry's red ear, kissing him right over the cartilage. "He needed  
that."

Harry's arm around Louis' back got a little tighter, the hand on his hip squeezing his flesh as he  
made a little noise and burrowed into the home that is Louis' clavicle. Sticky lips found Louis'  
sweaty skin.

Edward finishes off the last of the soup by feeding it to Harry before it went cold, setting it down  
with the tray on the floor before finding his place beside the established couple. He isn't pushed  
away by Harry which is an absolute victory for him and allows him to get half a cuddle in.

Louis stretches his legs over to Edward's lap as well, tucking his feet in between his legs and  
smiling. Edward leans in to give him a tender kiss that says everything from 'Thank you' to 'I love  
you more than you can comprehend'.

"Edward." Harry voices his brother's name with a croak, just his eyes visible from behind Louis'  
neck.

"Yes?" Louis doesn't intervene when Edward replies carefully, shifting his head a little to the side so  
he's officially sandwiched.

Harry doesn't say anything that Louis hears, just compresses his smaller body a bit more when he  
leans forward to claim a kiss of his own from Edward. Of course it's a welcome act when Edward  
cradles his cheek and deepens the kiss for as much as it will go. Harry smiles into the connection  
and pulls away after there's enough of tea, soup and Louis' skin taste on his brother's lips as well.

"You forgive me, pup?" Edward tucks some of Harry's paling hair strands behind his ear, looking  
into those green mirrors with earnest begging.

Harry gives him one more kiss to answer his question before taking up residence in Louis' throat  
once again. The boy in his arms has since closed his eyes and got a little drowsy.

"Petal's sleepy." Harry's large hand cradled the back of Louis' head, rocking him easily. 

"I'm okay." Louis sits up and rubs his eyes, unhappy to be disturbed from his comfortable position  
against Harry's shoulder.

"Sleep." Harry encourages, putting his head back down for him and crossing his legs. "We'll sleep  
together."

Edward finds himself soon rearranging the abundance of blankets to suit the three of them for this  
impromptu nap, Harry preferring to carry Louis while he stands rather than set him down. Louis  
isn't all that unhappy with _that_ decision.

  
* * * * *  


"Do you mind?" Niall whines in complaint, the weight on top of him too great to be removed.

"Very much so, my star." Was Dexter's reply from where his incisors nicked Niall's skin at his neck.

"I have to _go_." Niall tried to say, laughing fondly when he's pinned back down after several  
attempts at sitting up. "Love, please."

"I think it isn't me who should be patient any longer." Dexter's finger trailed down the front of  
Niall's beautifully pale form. "I've waited for you, my star."

"I know, Dex." Niall relaxes for a while, feeling the dryness of unconditioned hair on his partner.  
"I'm sorry and I love you. If I could ever get that time back for you-"

"You misunderstand, doll." Dexter embraces Niall's lower half, face fitted against his extremely  
lower abdomen. "I would wait an eternity for you. A whole eternity. I am just eager to claim my  
reward after that eternity."

With eyes that resemble hearts, Niall leans down the great distance and kisses Dexter hard on his  
swollen lips. The kiss melts into smaller pecks with their mouths never parting, but Dexter slides up  
the length of Niall's body between his legs to assert his dominating presence against the boy's pale  
body.

"How could anyone else ever think you were theirs?" Dexter said with praise to the boy he lay  
possessive over.

  
* * * * *  


"Harry." Louis spoke calmly with his hand stretched out before him, arm over the kitchen counter.  
"Harry, no."

Edward's brother was being absurd while Edward himself watched on amusedly from the lounge  
where he's connecting the TV. Louis had gone to the kitchen to innocently make a cup of tea - no  
sugar and less milk - but Harry decided that he would very much like to be a kid again and chase  
Louis everywhere he went.

Their apartment has been filled with mad stunts like this for the past two days after all the  
discomfort had been smothered.

Irrespective of Louis' feelings towards this childish games, his assailant makes a grab for him while  
Louis is setting the milk down.

"Harry!" He squeals, just managing to side-step the man by an inch and end up laughing at the other  
end. "Will you please stop chasing me?"

Harry takes on the innocent look he's been doing whenever Louis reprimands him. He smiles and  
walks a little closer to his target, their eye-contact maintained until Louis feels safe enough to pick  
up a teaspoon from the drawer.

"Harry!" He shouts again when this time he is caught around the middle and hauled off the ground  
to be swung around.

Louis' laughter comes to a halt with Harry's actions, putting him at the same height as the man. His  
legs hang weakly on either side of Harry, thighs just barely hooking over his hips.

"Hi there." Louis greets for the sake of doing so, moving the hair poking Harry's eye away from it.  
"Are you done now?"

Harry's carefree composure has been the subject of Louis' admiration for the past few days. He grins  
like an innocent and those dimples mean so much more now that he looks like a peaceful, calmer  
self. Edward enjoyed watching his brother being so full of life.

"I want tea too." Harry tells him rather than answering the question.

"You do?" Louis raises his eyebrow and Harry nods into his neck, a sweet as pie smile coming  
through on Louis' neck. "Then guess what?"

Harry makes a curious and attentive noise.

Louis whispers the response in Harry's ear with a cheeky little giggle. "You gotta put me down,  
Daddy."

Cackling with conflicted thoughts in his mind, Harry let's Louis have control of his legs on the  
ground whilst hovering over him from his station right at his back. Louis returns to his cup of tea,  
dipping the spoon in and twirling it about while Harry's hands find purchase on his hips.  
Louis knows how Harry takes his tea - extra sugar - and begins the process of making it with an  
equally sized mug. Harry rewards him with a kiss on his bare shoulder where Edward's shirt hung  
off his body at the neckline.

"Do you want tea?" Louis asked Edward when he was perched on the kitchen counter with Harry  
between his legs, both sipping on their hot beverages as Seattle was plunged into a rain storm.

Edward went to the fridge and extracted a bottle of water before finding his place next to Louis.  
"No, petal."

Harry is making an unnecessary amount of noise with his spoon. Louis has to take it away for him  
to stop. "What should we do for supper?"

"We can go out for dinner." Louis proposes. "Seattle has some lovely restaurants, don't they?"

"Probably." Edward let's Louis peek over his shoulder as he gets out his phone to efficiently Google  
any such places. "A taco truck outside a park sounds just as pleasant."

Harry doesn't like the idea of a non-sophisticated dinner after two nights of quickly thrown-together  
meals. He is ready for the outside world of dining. Louis picks up on that message and snatches up  
Edward's phone to find somewhere decent for them all.

"We can go on a date." Louis says out loud, not entirely convinced into looking up from the iPhone  
screen. Harry is overly fond of how large the device is in Louis' small hands.

"A date?" Harry pipes up, drinking from his warm mug and holding Louis' pastel purple one for the  
boy too.

Edward doesn't think the idea to be an awful one. A date in the conventional sense could be  
appealing. "I suppose it would be nice."

Louis gives him a lazy eye roll and a small laugh. "Dinner and a movie. There's a 'Garden of Lights'  
show on somewhere nearby too."

"Sounds like a plan." Harry seals the deal before someone can stomp on it. "I want to go."

"So do I." Louis adds in, nobody making an actual move to get ready.

"It's decided then." Edward helps Louis off the counter without the need to and gets his phone  
slipped back into his pocket by a sneaky hand. "Tell me which restaurant so I can make a  
reservation, petal."

Louis spins around from his trip into the bedroom, ankle socks sliding easily on the wooden floor.  
He puffs up his cheeks with air as he thinks. "Surprise me."

Harry's gone to the kitchen sink to take care of the very few dirty dishes when Edward dares to grab  
Louis by his _extremely lower_ back. Louis is jerked forward with a force that lands him  
against the hard planes of Edward's muscular torso, faced with a smoulder and bitten lip.

"Can I help you, Sir?" Louis gasps out loud, scandalised when Edward gropes his behind with one  
hand.

A pair of lips land over his, gulping down his thoughts and invading the taste of his mouth with a  
skilled tongue. Louis moans and kisses back with opaque enthusiasm, his mouth getting opened by  
force and savoured. He doesn't battle Edward's tongue for dominance, just let's his head be tipped  
back and accepts the sweet torture.

_"Petal."_

Edward nips at Louis' lips, ravenous with his eyes closed and teeth making quick grabs for the  
swollen pillows of the boy's lips. Those cerulean eyes are so much more captivating when they're a  
little watery and red. Edward sets his water bottle down in favour of clumsily lifting Louis off the  
ground to hold against the counter, hurting the tendons in his wrists by keeping the boy from  
slipping.

When Edward's eyes meet Louis', they're full of something unspeakable and intense. Louis can only  
save himself from landing on his ass and doing the Edward the pleasure of leaning on him, sating  
the ever-present need of the man to be relied upon.

The doorbell rings and Harry, never having noticed their less than publicly appropriate position,  
goes to answer it.

"Do you think it's the delivery guys for-"

"Petal." Edward squeezes Louis' bum with both hands in reprimand. "Pay attention to _me_."  
Louis can't ever look away from Edward's eyes, permanently employed to brush aside rogue locks  
of starch blond hair. "I love you."

He leans down and kisses the man's various features, repeating such strong words from the strings  
of his heart with each new location. Nose. Forehead. Chin. Cheek. Temple. Jaw.

"Fuck, petal." Edward is torn apart by the end of it, grabbing Louis' wrists and pinning them down.  
"You're under me tonight. All fuckin' night."

Louis smiles mischievously into Edward's hollowed cheek, blushing as his skin heated up. "But I  
like being on top too, Daddy."

Edward vehemently shakes his head at the suggestion. He knows how much Louis likes straddling  
him, taking control in that way when he felt brave enough, but he doesn't want that for tonight.  
"Under me, baby. I'm going to take care of you."

Louis' giggling like he's still in high school and the most popular guy in the establishment has  
picked him over everyone else. He gives Edward an affectionate Eskimo kiss and locks his ankles  
around the man's back. All that gets blocked when he hides his face in Edward's neck. "Gonna make  
me feel good, Daddy?"

Again Louis is thrusted into the air so Edward can secure him more fastly to him. "Going to-"

"Edward." Harry's interrupting voice throws them a little apart from their indecent connection. He's  
blocking the doorway a little. "Delivery guys are here."

Louis has to be set down to take care of the finer details regarding that. The furniture was ordered  
under his name and he had to sign off on them before allowing them to be carried into their  
apartment. Between the two delivery men and the twins, everything from their new sofa to pedestals  
at their bedside is put in place by noon.

"I like it." Louis announces when they're alone again, bouncing on the balls of his feet with his  
socks dirtied by manual labour.

"Indeed." Edward nods approvingly at their finally furnished living room. "Shall we celebrate?"  
"I supp-"

Edward bends over behind the boy and picks him up by the backs of his legs, getting them thrown  
over his shoulder. 

"Oye!" Louis exclaims, nails digging into Edward's back.

He watches the floor as he's carried away from the lounge towards what he knows will be the  
bedroom. Sighing as the trip comes to a close after they pass Harry busy with something in the  
kitchen, Louis hears the door close soundly and his back collapses onto their familiar smelling  
sheets two seconds later.

Louis props himself up on his elbows, knees spread apart and body open to investigation. Edward is  
biting lip, icing up his veins by taking in the boy sprawled out on the bed for him. He is so utterly  
ruined by this boy who let him in that it makes him quiver in excitement every time he gets a new  
opportunity.

He sucks in a long breath that whistles past his teeth when Louis makes the first move under his  
heated gaze. The boy hooks his thumbs over the waistband of his shorts and drags them down his  
golden, soft as Edward's dreams legs. His panties get lowered just below his hip too and Edward's  
eyes grow narrow with mad lust.

"Daddy?" Louis' innocent, angelic voice breaks Edward's trance and he releases his lip.

Edward decides he's waited long enough and climbs on top of his petal to fully conceal him from  
other vacant eyes. He immediately latches onto Louis' neck where the taste was sweet and medium  
supple, sucking loudly on the skin with his teeth and tongue. Louis granted him further access by  
throwing his head back and reaching for the man's joggers.

"Daddy." Louis chanted as Edward's pelvis ground into his, lace against elasticated cotton. His  
hands found the knobs of Edward's spine and raked his nails down the bumps.

He was released as his underwear started to grow too tight, the head of his fattening erection  
showing through the light pink lace. Louis met Edward's lips and moved up with him into a seated  
position, fingers in the man's hair and little moans escaping him as Edward sucked his tongue into  
his mouth.

Tracing each molar with his hot, little tongue Louis dared to drag the muscle over the sharp tips and  
tease Edward's body by crawling onto his lap. He lowered one hand to glide down the man's front,  
trailing down the flexing abs and tickling the little hairs at his V-line. Louis opened his mouth and  
Edward secured his cheek to firmly ravage the inside of it.

"Baby." Edward groaned when Louis' warm hand snuck under his pants to grip his length. "I'm not  
wasting time. Are you open enough, petal?"

He searched Louis' eyes for any doubt when the boy nodded eagerly and started pushing him down  
onto the mattress. Edward held onto Louis' rounded hips, massaging the flesh with his dexterous  
fingers and moaning when his pants were yanked down just past his hard-on.

Louis used his saliva as lube as they always did, despite them owning lubricant of flavoured and  
regular nature. He positioned himself over his lover's throbbing c*ck and bottomed out with a loud  
whine. Edward took up every spare space inside him, made him feel full to the brim and hung him  
just off the edge. 

His fingers dug into Edward's pectorals, opening his eyes after screwing them shut. Edward and his  
eyes connect, his body sat upright but his back arched beautifully. Hands glided up to the curve of  
his spine and yank him forward so he gasps and nearly falls over.

Louis looked ethereal to Edward. Their sex lives were always so hurried from their incessant need  
to just connect their bodies and push each other to a climax. He was breathing heavily and Edward  
ran his hands over the boy's petite body, from shoulders to pelvis.

The tight heat around Edward clenched and the man hissed from the burning pleasure that ate its  
way through him. His hips jerked and Louis' eyes widened to nearly black, lips parted and thighs  
shaking. Edward admired them with his hands, sitting up a little to bite on Louis' abused nipples. He  
pulls on it when his sweet lover whimpers and keeps him secured to his chest for more  
mistreatment.

"Hmm- Daddy." Louis choked when Edward's teeth roll the red nub between them, tongue licking  
over the swollen area.

Edward moved his mouth to the center of Louis' chest, rotating the boy's hips for him. He grabbed  
Louis' waist and wound his arms around the span of it, burying his face in Louis' shoulder to start  
moving. The boy got up on his knees and Edward plundered into his body with wild thrusts.

Louis tossed his head back and screamed to the ceiling as he got his body pounded by a thick  
erection ploughing into him. Edward could see where the outline of himself, wondering how hard  
he could go before Louis broke into pieces.

Louis' legs gave out after his strength was depleted, humping Edward sloppily to get off. He made  
high-pitched sounds in his throat whenever the head of an invasive appendage pounded into his  
prostate, drove it to be sensitive. The pain kicked in when the wetness along his walls gave out,  
after getting punched deeper and deeper into Louis' body. That left his body in a spasming  
aftershock.

Edward flipped them over and unintentionally got them tangled in the sheets, comforters winding  
around them until they're in a zone of their own. Louis is surprised by this turn of events and his  
frozen slack jaw emphasising that. He grips Edward's strong shoulders and squirms until he's  
comfortable, putting him in the perfect position to be manipulating the c*ck inside him that moved  
with each sweep.

Finally, Louis got his legs parted and hooked over Edward's hips, joining them over the curve of his  
behind to pull him closer. He brought Edward's lips to his and started panting raggedly into the  
man's mouth as Edward started to move again. Thrust after thrust, skin slapped skin and got it  
sweater, more goosebumps and more _aching_.

Louis disallowed for any space between their desperate bodies. He had their fronts pressed flush up  
against one another's, getting his pelvic bone beaten with the hard muscle of Edward's hips until it's  
red and sore. Edward uses Louis' body but worships it at the same time, loving it but letting the  
vessel mean nothing more than the boy himself.

Edward pushes himself so close to his orgasm but holds back for just a little while longer. He bucks  
his hips with precise brutality that shoved Louis further and further into a balled-up shape so that he  
was closed in on himself. Louis' skin was flushed right down to his belly button, his stomach  
tightening and contracting as he breathed heavily.

"So tight, baby." Edward held both sides of Louis' face, breath sticking to the dampness of the boy's  
lips.

"Good, Daddy?" Louis spoke breathlessly, embodying the fragile deity Edward was born to  
worship.

"Perfect, petal." Edward said, voice strained as he lost his rhythm and grunted into Louis' ear.  
"Gonna ruin me."

Louis wasn't too happy with that. He hugged Edward around his shoulders and inadvertently threw  
himself off the deep end when the man nailed his prostate dead-on and stayed there, holding him as  
a quivering hostage.

"No, D-Daddy." He bit Edward's earlobe and whimpered softly.

Edward found the sudden energy to chuckle, pulling out to deliver shallow thrusts. "Don't worry,  
darlin'. Daddy's always got you."

Before Louis could respond, Edward delivered a hard thrust that slammed vengefully into his sweet  
spot. The boy cried out and fell in love with the brutality, wanting to be doused in it until he  
drowned. Edward granted him that mercy, kicking the sheets aside and slamming into Louis' hole  
until the muscle started to burn.

To interrupt them was the ringing of the doorbell and Louis hardly had the thought functionality to  
process why it would be. He just let his body and mind fall prey to whatever it is that the beast of a  
man over him wanted. Cold air turned to icicles and warm breath turned to molten puffs, scorching  
Louis' throat and tickling his skin at the same time.

Before caring to knock, Harry barged into their bedroom looking frightened as Hell. Louis would  
have, had it been _anyone else_, covered up and screamed but it was Harry and Edward didn't  
stop his sinful responsibilities carried out on Louis' body. He continued thrusting into that all too  
great love of his with complete devotion and lips that muttered more sweet things to the boy.

"Edward!" Harry sounded serious when he shouted from the doorway, shutting it with a bang.

His brother raised his head from where it rested in the junction of Louis' neck. Louis felt the bed  
sinking where Harry got on. "Yes, brother?"

Louis caught Harry's wrist when Edward matched his rhythm again in a beat, pinning the boy down  
with a hard thrust forward. It caused an earth-shattering orgasm to splinter through him as it pulled  
pleasure from the deepest parts of him. He dug his nails into Harry's forearm and came so hard that  
his vision blacked out.

He didn't hear any of what Harry said to Edward after the initial greeting, his ears ringing and brain  
unfocused. All he noticed was the lack of something warm flooding his system and Edward  
suddenly pulling out, scrambling off the bed when he was too tired to even look in his direction.

"Sleep, petal." Harry gave Louis' forehead a kiss and soon he was gone too, the phantom of his lips  
on the boy's skin.

  
* * * * *  


Edward didn't wait to follow Harry back out into the living room where their awaited guest was. He  
sped ahead with his pants pulled up properly and no shirt on, heart galloping in the constricting cage  
of his chest. He's terrified and anxious and excited.

Harry nearly bumps into a pillar with the full blow of his right shoulder when he makes it out again,  
prepared to show Edward that he is serious. His older brother doesn't even need it once they're face  
to face with just one woman standing awkwardly in their lounge with a winter's coat on.  
Frozen in his tracks, Edward's eyes nearly bulge all the way out of their sockets and Harry is  
standing nervously behind him.

_"Ma?"_ He says shakily, not believing that the kind eyes and familiar scent isn't a mirage.  
Anne smiles warmly, the way she used to whenever she called them inside from the cold weather.

"My sweet boys."


	40. Chapter Forty

***NARRATOR'S POV***

"What's that?" Harry peered curiously into the warm bundle he and Edward were being shown by  
their mother.

"It's your baby sister, love." Anne sounded so tired and felt a little sticky when her eight year-old  
boys leaned against her sides. "Her name is Gemma."

"Oh." Harry wanted to see more of the fussy pink person who was holding Edward's finger. "She's  
so cute."

"She is." Their mother laughed and cradled her newborn with both hands, smiling when Edward  
kissed Gemma's forehead.

The newest little addition to their family wasn't much of a crier. Gemma slept like the dead and her  
brothers worried Anne until they were allowed to share a room with her as she grew.

"Ma!" Harry was ten when he started carrying their baby sister around the house full time.

"Yes, Harry?" Anne was glad to see that her babies never fought.

"Can you make us brownies for movie night?"

"Sure thing." She leaned down and kissed his forehead, then Gemma's so the baby girl gurgled and  
clung to her brother.

It also troubled her that they had such vividly contradictory personalities and yet that was true.  
Edward was her most silent child, who could sit staring out a window for hours at a time without  
being restless or bored. Harry was more vibrant and loved every opportunity to help her out  
especially when cooking.

Gemma came along from the same father as her first-born boys with dark hair and darker eyes,  
changing all of that. Both Edward and Harry would take their little sister outside for walks and  
small picnics. Anne found herself bathing three muddy, joyous children almost every night because  
of it.

"Ma, come see this." Edward called Anne away from the kitchen after her duties were over.

"What is it?" She dropped onto the couch, exhausted, and pulled Edward under her arm.

Gemma was wriggling about between Edward and Harry, bored with their horror movie marathon.  
She crawled onto Edward's lap and giggled when her mother picked her up to tickle her.

"Mama." She put both her chubby, pale hands on her mother's face and snuggled into her warm  
chest.

"Hello, my angel." She wrapped her arm around her youngest so she was comfortable. 

Harry had his head on Edward's lap with the latter combing through his lengthy hair. Her younger  
twin always protested to getting a haircut because longer hair made him feel more secure. She  
sometimes teased him about looking like a snowman but Harry rarely took mockery to heart.  
The bond between her children only seemed to be intensified over the years as they became  
teenagers together. Harry and Edward finally let Gemma have some space which she wasn't too  
happy about after years of being attached at the hip.

"Where are you going?" She stood in the doorway of their bathroom while Harry removed the last  
of their belongings.

It was time to allow the maturity that has developed in each of them take the course of its own  
towards aging them. However Harry and Edward grew, it wasn't the same as when Gemma did.  
They grew as one, easily moulded to be one person that recovered what was lacking in the other.  
Unfortunately, Gemma didn't have that counterpart and when her brothers showed signs of  
abandoning her she chose to act out. She had nobody besides them.

Throughout their schooling years - which she was still part of - she had them to keep her company  
in those barren halls with weird teenagers. She could rely on her brothers for everything but now it  
felt like they were _leaving her_ and she would have nothing or no one.

"We're moving down the hall." Harry informs her with a little smile, dropping a peck on her cheek  
before leaving the room.

"What?" She follows after him in her shorts and T-shirt, phone fallen on her bed.

"Down the hall." Edward appeared out of the twins' new room to take the boxes Harry had.

"Yeah. I heard." She glares at him and he chuckles. "Why are you moving right now?"

Her brothers shared a look that she didn't understand. She didn't know that they'd just picked up a  
new _hobby_ and needed the space as well for when they took advantage of their more  
physical relationship.

"Have to." Harry shrugged his shoulders and moved past her.

Edward gave Gemma a brief hug. "Sorry, princess."

"I'm telling Ma." She said irritably into his shoulder.

"Ma knows." He squeezed her shoulders and released her. "We'll always be here, Gemma."

Later, when she did bring it up with their only parent Anne sighed and shook her head as she  
vented. Edward walked into the lounge, followed by Harry and got roped into the argument as well.

"Sweetheart, it's a small thing." Anne reassured her daughter, tucking her curly hair behind her ear.

"It isn't." Gemma fired back. She loved her mother dearly enough to never lash out physically but  
that didn't stop her from feeling upset.

"It _is_."

Anne decided to nip this issue in the bud. "Sit down. All three of you, put your bums on that couch."  
That led to problems of its own when Gemma sat at a far corner and Harry took up a spot beside  
her, draping his arm over her shoulders. She tried to move away from him but that didn't work for  
Edward sandwiched her in on the other side.

At night, after peace had been made between the siblings, Harry and Edward found themselves  
being visited by their mother in their new room. They stop sorting out the closet in favour of giving  
her their best smiles.

"Hi." Harry pecks Anne's cheek and goes towards the bed that is his. He isn't allowed to touch  
Edward's bed.

Edward had a matching smile to offer her, sharp teeth and chapped lips grazing her temple.

"Boys." She just has to say that and two sets of matching eyes are on her. "I got a call from your  
school today."

Both twins had graduated just a few months prior, Edward as valedictorian and Harry following  
behind him by two decimal places. He was second highest in the whole standard of four classes,  
both of them carrying the strongest grades that ever came out of Middleston High School.

"Former school." Edward corrects and moves to sit on the floor where Harry always was.

"Yes well-" She sits in front of them both with her hands clasped together. "-they told me that you  
missed prom."

Harry groans in irritation at the topic being brought up. Anne knew the subject made her sons  
uncomfortable but this is one of the few worries she has when it comes to her boys.

"Ma." Edward opens his mouth with a readied complaint.

"Hush." She raises her finger to silence them both. "Now, was that out of choice?"

"Yes." They both answer in unison, tone bored and legs crossed almost in mirror images.

"Why then?"

"What do you mean?" Harry asks, honestly confused by this question.

"Why we didn't go." Edward clarifies for him, head slightly inclined to that side.

"Yes." Anne nods to confirm it. "Did you both not go for any particular reason?"

"What difference does it make whether we go or not, Ma?" Harry folds his knees up to his chest.

Prom? Prom was always going to be a stupid idea made up by people who wanted to waste a night  
doing things that made no sense. Harry hates proms and Edward can never be sold on it. They knew  
that chances of them going could have widened if they'd made the personal decision to attend as  
they had been asked in naivity to go as dates by girls and boys alike. 

"It's a....a rite of passage for teenagers." Anne tries to diplomatically explain the importance of  
prom. "You didn't even tell me when the prom was."

"You would have made us go, Ma." Edward says, knees bumping Harry's as he crosses them. "We  
didn't want to."

"I know these things make you uncomfortable but one day you'll have to make more friends. As  
much as you're independent, you'll both be needing the world sooner than you think."

Edward looks to his brother first, expression unreadable and lips set in a thin line. They knew what  
their mother was poking at with this discussion. They never once brought home someone together  
or separately to introduce to her, when Gemma had done so twice. Their poor mother was beginning  
to feel they were defective in the romantic aspect of living a normal life.

"Give us time, Ma." Harry tells her earnestly, the absolute truth shining through those immaculate  
mossy orbs. "Please."

"We're not good at this. Not like how Gemma is." Edward says too, earning his mother's attention.

"Oh my loves. I didn't mean that." She shakes her head and brings them close for a kind of hug that  
got them each a spot on either shoulder. "I just want the best for you both. Nothing but the best."

And days later when Harry would approach her about a topic of a similar nature, she would almost  
tear up at the _possibility_ of her stranger son finding someone to open their arms for him.  
Who would? Why would they? His tastes were so singular and so very specific, tailored so that  
Edward filled in the gaps. That person would have a lot to take care of.

"Edward told me that love is awful." Harry sat on her bed with his legs crossed, both hands locked  
onto his ankles.

"Love?" She handed him a pile of laundry to help her fold. He was the only one who didn't make a  
break for the hills when she asked for help.

"Yeah." He grabbed a sweater and folded the sleeves. "Is it really?"

Anne dropped her choice of sweatpants. She hasn't had the best experience in any chance of love  
until recently when she met a wonderful gentleman who gave her a fair chance. The only other man  
she's been with gave her all her precious angels and he's as dangerous as they come.

"Love is so scary, sweetheart." She reaches over and brushes back some of his curly locks. "So  
scary."

He never cared when they got in his face. What she saw in his eyes was almost magical, the  
vulnerability and eagerness to know the truth whilst at the same time being terrified of it glistening  
on green marbles. Harry could be the only one of her babies that can ever bother enough to meet  
someone special.

The problem is that she can't see him being the one to go on dates and kiss in the rain, no matter  
how innocent those eyes were. She saw fear being inflicted and blood being shed, just like his  
father. Always like that monster of a man whose claws she couldn't escape.

She had to reassure him though, had to promise her sweet son that there is a light at the end of the  
tunnel.

"One day-" She sniffed and gripped his arm. "One day you'll find out that answer for yourself."

  
* * * * *  


**_"Ma?"_ He says shakily, not believing that the kind eyes and familiar scent isn't a  
mirage.**

**Anne smiles warmly, the way she used to whenever she called them inside from the cold  
weather. "My sweet boys."**

Edward's legs turned to unsteady, shaky sticks as he tried to step forward but there was no air to  
breathe and no energy to finance the movement. Harry was right behind him, once again silently  
asking and receiving protection from his bigger brother.

"Don't I get a hug?" Anne looked like she didn't age a day, spreading her arms out in that heavy  
trenchcoat to welcome them.

Her skin was a little paler but it had life to it, something the twins themselves had gained only  
recently. Her eyes were the same shade of darkness but they were so warm and homey that neither  
son felt any threat. Harry bet she smelt like home-baked goodies just like before and Edward knew  
he'd get that flowery fragrance off her before he even got ahold of her.

"M-Ma." Edward spoke again, this time pushing himself forward until he was wrapped up in that  
familiar scent and time that was his first family.

Missing his mother never went away. The longing for a parent who loved him and his brother just as  
much as they loved her was ever present. They never felt it, the pain and the loss, after they met  
their petal but now that _she's here_ there it is again making itself known.

"Oh my love." She smelt just like she did before and Edward was holding onto her so tightly,  
gripping her clothing as he closed his eyes and breathed heavily to take it all in.

Harry fell into the group embrace as well and his arm wound around Edward's waist as the whole  
unit got tighter. She kissed their foreheads and their cheeks, tearing up as she struggled to hold onto  
them both.

"Darlings." She couldn't let go of them no matter how much she tried on her own. It felt like her  
strength came from them and theirs from her.

There was a faint patter of bare feet shuffling along the carpet and slowly creeping onto the wooden  
panels. Louis hadn't heard any of this new interaction as he was still sleepy with a large shirt on and  
rubbing his eyes, but he did pause in the hall when he saw this woman.

It didn't take long for him to catch onto who she was. Those features were familiar and the hold  
both twins had on her was undeniably one that concreted his conclusion. He was about to remain  
silent and just watch, but Harry shifted and happened to see him.

"Petal!" He was profoundly ecstatic to find Louis standing there, and withdraws from his bloodline  
to go for the boy.

"H-Harry." Louis almost steps back when Harry nears him in lightning speed, grabbing him by his  
waist. "I-Is that-"

"Yeah." Harry beams as he plants a wet kiss on Louis' forehead before dragging him forward. "Ma,  
this is our Louis."

Louis is faced with this new female individual who both intimidated him and made him soar with  
relief. She's here, their beloved mother. He was half hidden by Harry's body as he held onto the  
man's arm with both hands.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Louis." Anne was kind enough to release Edward and accept a small  
hug that Harry encouraged Louis into.

"The pleasure is mine." Louis begins to feel drastically cold where his legs were bare. Although,  
nobody seemed to care besides him.

"I'm Anne." She smiles politely and maintains a hand holding Louis' wrist, not wanting her  
nightmares to take this boy away. "I'm sorry I'm here at this time."

"No, Ma." Harry was back at her side already. "We've waited so long. We thought-"

"We thought you left us." Edward finishes for him, his arm snaking its way around Louis' hips and  
drawing him out to be against his chest where the boy was safest.

Louis had no choice but to accept being held in this way, his hand on Edward's bare torso and his  
body curved just the slightest to fit against him. He leaned his cheek against the man's shoulder and  
sighed a little as he slowed his heart-rate.

"I wish I had time to explain, boys." She watches the way Edward supports Louis' petite frame like  
its his sole purpose.

"Stay here." Harry interrupts. "Make time, Ma. Stay here."

"Harry-"

Louis was watching everything unfold at a rapid pace when he was ill-equipped to pay full  
attention. He had strong arms banded around his middle and that's what kept him standing upright  
when he started to fall. Edward was indirectly using him as a shield. He gave Louis sporadic kisses  
and unpredictable squeezes to keep asserting his presence.

"Stay." Louis was the one to speak up, voice a little shifty but sturdy nonetheless as he turned  
around. Anne was looking at him a little shocked.

He was doing this for them, he'd convinced himself that he was. They wanted her to stay here so  
that they could rekindle what was wearing down to nothing. Maybe she'll listen to him, the boy who  
had the opportunity to love and be loved by her especially unique sons.

She was studying something about him the way he was trying to read what she was thinking. "I'll  
stay."

The joy is palpable in the room after she announces that. Edward's body stiffens against Louis' and  
when the boy raises his gaze to meet his eye, there's something masked by another mystery right  
there for all to see. Green twists in agony to an unreadable expression and Edward's mouth twitches  
at the corners just to smile for Louis.

Harry hugs Anne, both arms weighing down on her shoulders and he nuzzles her neck while she  
laughs but reciprocates. "I'm so happy you're here, Ma."

"I'm happy to be here, Harry." She kisses his cheek. "I'm always happy to be here for my boys."

Edward looks like he's about to say something but Louis stops him with a look. He tells him  
wordlessly with the passion that is born in Louis' eyes not to ruin this for Harry. Any issues can be  
dealt with later. Edward obeys by looking away.

"Now-" Anne holds onto Harry's waist. "-did I interrupt anything?"

Harry awkwardly coughs and Edward remains as tense as he was all along, giving nothing away to  
cooperate with the blush colouring Louis' cheeks. Anne took a beat or two before she caught on and  
did away with the question.

"Well I'm aware that this is your new home and I don't intend to impose." She starts by saying, her  
eyes on Louis. "It's lovely by the way, Louis."

"Thank you um...-" He just realised at the worst time that he doesn't know what to address this  
woman by. Styles? Anne?

"Anne. Just call me Anne, dear."

"Thank you, Anne." Louis crosses his arms over his chest. "I'll go get you some things for the  
guestroom."

He escaped to their bedroom as quickly as he could on light feet, later joined by the younger twin  
soundlessly.

Harry has been staring at Louis without blinking or looking at even an inch the wrong way for the  
past ten minutes. Louis had been gathering things to give Anne to use in the guestroom and Harry  
was sitting on their bed.

Louis was a lot less secure about recent developments. His hands shook and his train of thought had  
derailed hours ago. Harry could see all that but chose not to bring it up. He caught Louis only when  
the boy tripped over nothing and went on a downward spiral towards the floor. His arms wrapped  
around Louis to keep him steady.

"Petal." Harry stood up and hugged a trembling Louis to his chest, keeping him tucked away in the  
cove of security. "What are you afraid of, my darling?"

"Why is your mother here, Harry?" Louis tightened his fists in Harry's shirt, breathing raggedly and  
felt like choking on every inhale. "Why now?"

It wasn't enough of an inquisition to make Harry think. He was just purely content to have his dear  
mother home with them after _years_ of being apart.

There were so many possibilities. So many conclusions running crazy in Louis' head. Could she be  
a threat like Gemma? She couldn't. Their mother has to have the same intention that every mother  
does. He never had a motherly figure to trust and care for so this area is a weak one to him.

"Don't worry about her, petal. My mother loves us and she'll love you too." Harry supports the back  
of Louis' head with his fingers fanned out over his scalp.

"I hope so." Louis whispers with his eyes wide open but exhausted enough to be bloodshot.

He's terrified and he doesn't know why. Every return of a new Styles family member has meant  
something bad for him and Louis doesn't want to face another trauma. He can never close his eyes,  
never stop looking around him in paranoia.

  
* * * * *  


Edward had lopsided the mattress onto the bed structure in the guestroom while Harry eagerly  
awaited the sheets to take there. The exchanges that needed to be made between them and their  
mother would have to wait until morning for now.

"You look happy." Anne observed from where she sat in plastic chair by the window. This room is  
still meant to be their excess storage room anyway.

Edward glanced her way and smiled, thunder echoing through the building as the storm continued  
outside. "I am happy."

"And that makes me so-"

"Why didn't you visit us?" Edward cuts her off, standing to his full height as she got to her feet.

"Edward, son." She walked towards him cautiously and put her hand on his arm. "I didn't  
_know._"

Something was tearing her up inside and Edward could see into it, feel its wrath in her eyes. He  
found himself unable to help it when he hugged her for umpteenth time that night, twice as tight and  
gently rocking their connection as he took it all in.

"Why didn't you know?" He still persists, knowing that Harry would never ask these questions  
when they deserved the answers.

"My husband lied to me." She hurries to continue. "He felt he was doing a good thing, just keeping  
us apart even after you were released. He told me you'd.....you'd both _died_ and made an  
elaborate story about it but I found out the truth and tracked you here."

Edward was stunned by this story. He last saw his mother five and a half years ago, all the time  
spent thinking she no longer loved them. He should have known better and never doubted her.

He wipes away the tears falling onto her cheeks with his thumbs and kisses her forehead. "I saw our  
father. We both did."

"Oh my God." She gasped, starting to shiver as she thought back to _that face.  
_  
She loved him once upon a time, was deeply in love with him enough to have his children. It was  
her weakest moment and she won't regret it only because her lovely, irreplaceable angels came off  
that awful part in her history.

"He's harmless now, Ma." Edward tells her with a twitching smile. "He loves another."

That was both a relief and tragedy to hear. Dexter could be overly domineering and controlling, too  
possessive and sadistic. What would he do to someone he loved? Edward had heard of this new  
person but he never learned the identity.

"Your Louis is so gentle." Anne changes the subject by sheer will. "He loves you both as much as  
you love him."

"He's our petal, Ma." Edward replies, a fond memory of his sweet lover bringing a smile to his  
features. "I do love him very much."

"One can easily tell." She laughs, proud to have this revelation upon her shoulders. "I've never been  
happier for you two. My boys deserve the best."

"We have better than the best." Edward assures her. "We have our petal."

  
* * * * *  


"You'll forgive my brother, won't you?" Edward later said to Louis in his ear when the night was  
dead silent and their bodies were tangled together.

Harry had started begging before he asked a straightforward question to sleep in his mother's room.  
Louis had given his consent because he understood the man's commitment to his mother who had  
been absent from his life for so long.

Louis lay on his side with his head on Edward's bicep that served as a pillow. He let Edward's leg  
between his as the man spooned him from behind, an arm wound around his middle so his palm  
flattened over Louis' chest. His thumb brushed back and forth over the boy's right nipple, his lips  
pressing odd kisses here and there on the boy's supple skin.

"There's nothing to forgive." Louis folded his arm under his pillow and fitted himself in between  
Edward's shoulderblades.

"Of course there is." Edward kissed Louis' neck repeatedly, leaving the skin damp with his licked  
lips. "He is meant to be our bed, irrespective of any circumstance."

"She's your _mother_, Edward." Louis laced their fingers together and kissed the back of  
Edward's hand. "I understand that he wanted to-"

"No, petal." Edward tightens his body around Louis', his lips sucking on the boy's neck lightly.  
"No."

"Edward." Louis stretched the length of his body against the man's and turned around to lock his  
arms around Edward's neck. He tickled the hairline above Edward's nape with his fingertips and  
became even more familiar with the glowing green that existed only in two humans. "Eddy."

Chuckling with a small cough into his fist, Edward rolled onto his back and took Louis with him.  
He was safer himself with Louis lying on top of him, feet tucked under his thighs and those soft,  
thin lips at his ear again. Louis let's himself be distracted by Edward's hands roaming his body from  
shoulderblades to posterior.

"Tomorrow I will fix everything, petal." Edward framed the side of Louis' face with his hand, palm  
resting over the boy's cheek.

"No, Edward-"

"Petal." Edward silences him with a kiss, pressing their forehead together. "She is our mother and  
we love her but you're _ours_ and I don't compromise on that."

Louis is entranced by the eyes pinning his into immobility. He can only turn his face into Edward's  
palm and kiss the man's callous skin, whilst he's nailed to a firm chest with the other arm. His  
hands, smaller in size but softer in delicacy, went to cup both sides of Edward's face as he connected  
their eyes and smiled easily for the first time since someone new stepped through their door.

"I love you." Louis reminds him with a kiss on his nose and one placed lower on Edward's lips.

Edward's lips curved into a smile of admirable satisfaction as he flipped their positions so Louis  
was comfortably underneath him. He left Louis' soft and bare neck laden with kisses. "I love you,  
petal. I _love_ you."

  
* * * * *  


"And what are you doin' here?" Anne steps out of the bathroom he's been given access to wearing  
what would be more comfortable for sleeping.

She found Harry, her precious son, sitting on her unmade bed waiting for her like he did when he  
was little and afraid of the dark. He wasn't little anymore. He was a man and she had to make him  
realise that.

"Harry, love." She sat on the edge of the bed near him and took his hand in hers. "Where's your  
Louis?"

"Sleeping in our room." Harry replies quietly. "He let me come here."

"I'm sure he did. He's a wonderful person." She would never feel as miserable as she did now,  
preparing to deny her son something for the first time. "You should not be here, Harry."

"What?" He was evidently shocked.

"Harry-" She turned to her side so she was facing him directly, forcing him to always look at her  
while she spoke. "-this boy should mean more to you than I do, no matter how absurd that sounds."

"No, Ma. I love you both-"

"And you're a good boy for that, Haz. I'm not going to be here everyday though but he will be. Do  
you remember meeting him?" She studied his reluctance as he looked away. "Do you? I don't have  
to know anything to guess it was a difficult time."

Harry looked up with unsure eyes and that insecurity making them shine, a glossy tint overcoming  
them. He remembers all too well the Hell he put his petal through upon their first encounter, then  
the many experiences that followed.

"Go to him." Anne presses her sealed lips to his forehead, not at all guilty for wanting her son here  
but sending him away. "He _chose_ to be with you, Harry. I know how long you've waited to  
have that."

Harry doesn't feel discouraged by his mother pushing him to go be with his precious lover and  
brother. He made the effort to be with her but never considered the impact that choice would have  
on Louis. Was it abandonment? Did Louis force himself to understand so that he wasn't hurt? Those  
thoughts made Harry fearful.

His mother was his Ma and he loved her so much but Louis was...._is_ their petal and there's  
no higher pedestal than that. He never should have left Louis, should have stayed with him like  
Edward did. Edward knows his priorities.

"Goodnight, Ma." Harry is on his feet and departing with a gentle peck to Anne's forehead before  
she can retract her comment.

"Goodnight, love." She whispers to the empty room, after her absent son.

Harry makes the sixteen step trip to the room that he's meant to be in during every night. He doesn't  
stop until he's got the door creaking open, stepping past the barrier as soon as there's a reasonable  
enough gap to fit through.

The room is silent save for the heavy breathing of his brother who has his face buried in Louis'  
shoulder, the same burden of faulty lungs becoming known again. There is no light in the room  
except for what peeked through the curtains. Harry could just make out that Louis is fast asleep on  
his side as well.

Harry made his way to the side of the giant bed unit that is his, bending over the edge to plant a kiss  
on Louis' cheekbone. Unintentionally, it got the boy to stir as he was just falling asleep.

"Shh." Harry pecked Louis' lips to seal them again, getting under the covers when Louis lifts the  
sheets up for him.

Louis yawned behind his fist and smiled when Harry roped an arm around him, ending between  
Edward's body and his. He was silently pleased to have Harry back with him after being promised a  
night without the man. Harry doesn't let him talk because Edward is a light sleeper and his brother  
needs his sleep.

"Sleep tight, petal." Harry says lowly. "Sweet dreams."

  
* * * * *  


Louis takes a sip of the freshly squeezed orange juice while he flips the eggs in the frying pan,  
moving from side to side to keep himself awake. Harry handled the juicer and Edward chose to  
operate the sizzling macon. They needed to purchase real bacon the next time either of them made a  
shopping trip.

With the eggs scrambled and smelling divine, Louis leaves the hot pan on a cooling rack meant for  
biscuits. He was famished and woke up early to prepare a good breakfast, with his stomach  
demanding small portions of a variety of food.

"Do you want one?" Edward held up his sliced English breakfast muffin.

"Yes please." Louis walked behind him to get the peach yogurt with the pack of granola.

Edward pops them in the frying pan with butter while Louis drops the remaining granola into the  
nearly finished yogurt tub. He walks around with a spoon feeding himself from the mixture as he  
thinks of all the things he'll have to say to Anne when she joins them.

He ends up sitting on a chair that's more comfortable than a bar-stool although just as high, scraping  
the container clean. Harry rinses and washes out the blender he had used while Edward gets fed the  
last spoonful of Louis' early breakfast. It just seemed to make him hungrier but the boy knew it had  
to be from his nerves.

"Okay, petal?" Edward thumbed at Louis' defined cheekbone. He'd already placed minty kisses on  
every spot he could.

"Yeah." Louis sets the tub down and sets his chin on Edward's shoulder. "I'm really hungry."

"That's because-" Harry takes away the tub and flashes Louis a small smile. "-you've refused to eat  
properly since we got here."

"I've eaten." Louis pouts, trying to recall the last decent meal he's eaten whilst poking at the pudge  
of his tummy that has grown significantly less noticeable. "I think."

"Petal." Edward disapprovingly shakes his head, the scent of his conditioner filling Louis' senses.

"Irrespective of what happens today, we are taking you out for the biggest dinner of your life."  
"Like a buffet?" Louis begins to doubt his nerves even acted up when his mouth waters at the  
thought of a buffet.

"Anything you want." Edward kisses Louis' neck, the smacking sound of his lips making his victim  
giggle. "Anything at all."

"Yay." Louis' hand reaches up to caress the tough jaw of Edward's lower visage. "I want to go to a  
buffet."

Harry is chuckling at their amusing and quaint conversation while cleaning up the dishes that don't  
need to be in use anymore. They all hear the opening of their guestroom door just a few seconds  
after Harry leans against the opposite side of the counter to grasp Louis' hands in his.

He doesn't stop playing with Louis' fingers even after the woman they've been awaiting comes into  
the kitchen.

"Good morning." Anne greets them, dressed after a shower in everything from yesterday except her  
coat.

The air doesn't thicken the way it should when there are unspoken hints of anxiety between those  
who are present. No tension, no disheartening.

"Morning." Louis replies to her after he's able to smile politely without trying. "How did you  
sleep?"

Both Edward and Harry watch the interaction with intent curiosity and innate interest. Harry knows  
how frightened Louis was by the appearance of their mother and Edward learned of those fears later  
too. They're both eager to know whether or not their petal has actually gotten over those things.  
Their eyes dart from one to the other in synchronisation as they listen.

"It was good, thank you." Anne smiles at back him, glad to see the confidence in Louis now. "You  
couldn't have brought those mattresses all the way from Middleston with you."

"No, we bought them here." Louis gestures to the seat next to him for her to sit on. Edward moves  
around the island to busy himself. "It was supposed to be more of a storage room so I'm sorry for all  
the....junk in there."

She dismisses that concern. "I'm the one who just showed up, dear. I won't tolerate apologies from  
you."

Louis feels himself warm up to her after that casual introduction. Edward and Harry have occupied  
themselves with breakfast while Louis spoke to their mother and vice versa, often sharing glances  
of understanding whenever something good came of that communication.

After Harry slid him a plate, Louis ate more than he planned because of being distracted by Anne's  
company. She was formal in her manner of speaking just like Edward was, but Louis spotted hints  
of a lilt that Harry possessed.

"Your cooking skills don't leave anything to be desired." Anne compliments him while she sips  
from her coffee mug. "Have you done anything to improve Edward's skills?"

Harry bit his lip to keep from laughing out loud while Edward narrowed his eyes in his direction.  
Louis laughed to himself with his own mug framed by both hands.

"I've eaten Edward's cooking. He's not half as bad as I once was." Louis defends his boyfriend - the  
term has never failed to make his heart flutter - which the man appreciates enough to wink at him.

"You taught yourself?" Anne asks this time, trying to find out as much as she can about this boy.

"Yes." Louis nods, setting his cup down. "I owe any credit of culinary abilities to Jamie Oliver and  
his website."

Anne's laughter makes her eyes wrinkle and her face brighten into something younger. "Oh dear, I  
was wrong about you."

Louis creases his forehead with worry. "What do you mean?"

Someone is standing directly behind Louis now, circling his shoulders with a muscular arm. Anne  
notices the way Harry did all that in a protective manner.

"I guess-" She uncrosses her legs. "-I thought you weren't as genuine as my sons think you are."

"Ma." Harry starts to interrupt, Edward straightening up with a frown.

"It's okay." Louis stops both of them from being confrontational.

"By genuine, I mean that you could have been someone who didn't understand them. You do  
though, and you've been good to them. I can never repay you for that."

Louis can't believe what he's hearing. "Anne, I....I love your sons. There's no _repaying_ me  
for that."

"My dear, it's difficult to explain." She bites her lip the way Edward does, nearly chewing it off.  
"Perhaps I can explain it better when it's just us."

Before Louis can reply, he looks at Edward for approval. The man who has his arms straining  
against the counter as he let his weight lean forward nods to allow him whatever answer he has.  
"Christmas shopping." Anne says again just as Louis opens his mouth to respond.

This confuses everyone in the room besides her. Louis closes his mouth to try and remember what  
month they're in. "We um- We didn't plan to have a Christmas."

"By choice or....?" Anne offers him an opportunity to explain himself.

"We forgot." Louis flushes out of embarrassment. It was early nearly mid December and they forgot  
about the festive season.

"It's settled then, yes?" Anne implores.

"Okay." Louis decides that this could be a good thing. Besides, shopping for the twins might just  
amuse him.


	41. Chapter Forty-One

***NARRATOR'S POV***

"My star? Love, wake up."

Niall was shaken awake with gentle strokes, Dexter's hand nudging his bare hip under the  
unpleasant covers they shared. He hasn't left Dexter's living quarters deep in the Madhouse's depths  
for days now, by choice not wanting to go out and face a world he despised.

"Huh?" He awoke with a familiar voice in his ear and stretched his body out to be more  
comfortable, his eyes opening like powerful lasers pinning Dexter's solid green.

"You must wake up." Dexter had those troubling lines from his frown over his forehead. "I'm going  
out."

"What?" That news had Niall sitting up in interest while Dexter stood fully, bare feet on cold  
concrete as he moved about.

This alarmed Niall. Dexter never went out. Ever. Why was he going out now? It couldn't be safe at  
all for him. Authorities still searched for this man and even with how lazy the precinct was, Dexter  
is one of their most wanted.

"Dexter, where are you going?" Niall asked again when the man didn't respond the first time.

Niall watched him come over to his side of the deflated mattress they always shared, kneel down in  
front of him and plant a kiss on his forehead. He felt a surge of calm after that act of affection, but  
he still held onto Dexter's biceps with both hands in deep concern.

He cared for this demented man more than he should, more than is healthy. He rested his forehead  
against Dexter's and shared in another kiss that united their lips and forced his head to be tilted back  
by a rough hand around his throat.

"Don't go." Niall got himself to say between Dexter's harsh kisses. "Why are you going? _Talk to  
me._"

Dexter breathes out a heavy sigh and pulls Niall's covers away to drag him onto his lap. His arms  
found their way around the younger male's back.

"Someone who I've been searching for over a long time has just been found." Dexter explains,  
admiring the little marks of red skin and grime that his body left on Niall's.

"Who?"

"The woman who had my children."

  
* * * * *  


"You don't have to go, petal." Louis lay over to bodies, his legs curled around Edward's hip and his  
head over Harry's heart. "You really don't have to."

"I do." Louis raised his head to have his cheek on Harry's firm torso. "I also _want_ to go."

The twins were aware that their mother could be harmless. She was always someone kind and  
gentle, nurturing and warm to the core so that it disallowed any evil feelings to be born there. Louis  
was safe with her but he wouldn't be the _safest_ and that's why they're reluctant to let him go.  
"Do you?" Edward encased Louis' lower half with both arms.

The silence in their room was so ideal for the moment they were trying to treasure together.  
Somehow, they'd all ended up interwoven as a systematic unit on their bed. Still encompassed by  
the darkness of their curtains, Louis could close his eyes and listen to Harry's heartbeat without  
interruption.

"Yeah." Louis spoke in a small voice. "I trust your mother to tell me any and all embarrassing  
stories from your childhoods."

He ended off with a wide and cheeky grin that made Edward question his intentions for this  
spontaneous trip. Harry merely responded by adding his signature smirk to the cool marble of his  
angelically carved face, pressing a hard kiss to Louis' forehead.

Unlike his brother, Harry was not hesitant to send the boy on this shopping trip. May it be  
something that could possibly lead to their eternal humiliation or not, he was going to support it  
because his mother knew what was best for them. Them and now Louis.

"I trust her to do the same as well." Harry's moistened lips spoke the husky words against Louis'.  
Their intimacy grew by many factors when he did so, thusly leading to them both closing their eyes.  
"You can come with us, you know. Both of you." Louis cuddled closer to Harry's warmth, bumping  
the man's cheek with his nose.

Edward held onto the curve of Louis' hips and pressed a delicate kiss to the round of gathered scars  
at the base of the boy's spine. "Two hours with our mother should suffice for enough story-telling,  
petal."

"_Two_ hours?" Louis reaches behind him to brush through Edward's hair. As suspected, it  
was all over his face yet easily removable.

"Yes, petal." Edward kissed the inside of Louis' wrist when his pulse got close enough to the threat  
of his sharpened teeth.

"I can't get anything done in two hours, Edward. Nobody can."

"I beg to differ, petal." Harry tightened his hold around Louis' waist and crashed his lips against the  
boy's when he started to pout. "You will be getting everything done in those two hours."

Louis' pout got stronger but it didn't do anything to convince either brother to fight his case for him.  
Harry chuckled and indulged none of his love's desires. They weren't accompanying their Louis and  
that meant tighter time restrictions.

"But-" Louis started to protest again, righting himself on his front. "-I have to buy you  
_gifts._"

"No you don't, petal." Edward gripped Louis' thighs with both hands, keeping them strewn across  
his abdomen. He dropped a kiss on the boy's knees. "We have you as the best possible present for  
the rest of our lives."

"Nah-uh." Louis sat up straight and rested his weight back against Harry's knees, his legs folded  
over the man's side. "Now what do you two want for Christmas?"

"You." Harry ran his hands up Louis' waist, stopping when his fingers were fanned out under the  
boy's shoulderblades and his thumbs pressing into his chest.

"Yes." Edward concurred, voice trailing off in a hiss as he sat up and pulled Louis in for a hard kiss.  
"More of you would be best for us. Always."

He's momentarily distracted by the warm press of soft lips just below his ear where his bone dipped  
and the skin was so sensitive. He gasps at the contact of teeth scraping that area, an arm snaking  
around his lower middle and whining with his eyes shut to the sensation of Edward's mouth  
travelling down the column of his neck.

Using the strength of both arms he encircles Edward's neck and loses his mind to the tingling,  
noncompressible feelings of want radiating off Edward. His head rolls back and from a weightless  
position it gets set on Harry's shoulder, the latter slotting himself against the boy.

Louis raises his body up on his knees and falls back into Harry's arms, four uncompromising bands  
of muscle strength strapped to his mid section so he can never escape. His skin heats up where its  
pressed to either twins'. Harry gave him an affectionate squeeze and traced his tongue over the  
bump of Louis' shoulderblade.

"St-Stop." Louis said in spite of what his body wanted him to succumb to, trying to hold onto his  
self-restraint. "I have to go."

"Yes." Edward's lips wrapped around Louis' left nipple, flicking over the sensitive nub so the boy  
would hiss and moan.

"You must." Harry finishes for his brother, knotting his fingers into Louis' hair and yanking  
_hard._ "You must _stay._"

Louis swallowed his scream of white pain and blissful pleasure crawling up the ridges of his spine  
to fester in the dark embers of his mind. He let his jaw fall open and a pair of lips overcome his,  
overrule his physical command. Edward tasted the inside of his mouth reverently, cupping his  
cheeks and greedily feeding off the scent and aroma of his sweet lover.

"Daddy." Louis whispered brokenly into Harry's ear. "Daddy, _yes_."

"Hush now, petal." Harry's calloused hands worshipped Louis' soft waist in slow, careful strokes.  
"We love you but you must leave now so you may come back to us."

Edward's throat lashed out a disapproving sound, but it faded out as he reacquainted himself with  
the flesh of Louis' front. He kept biting and sucking at the pale but flushed medium, marking it up  
with purposeful growls and nips.

"E-Edward." Louis gasped when his rough lover's teeth snagged his Adam's Apple.

Obeying, the man let go of his precious petal. He released the boy with swollen lips and widened  
eyes, staring soullessly into Louis' as they threatened to destroy every last bit of sanity the boy  
possessed to replace it with his madness.

"I miss you already, petal." Edward's lips are clinging to Louis', sticky residue keeping them locked.

"So sappy, Daddy." Louis pushed Edward back down, the man laughing hoarsely as his back hit the  
sheets. "Now, pick something store-bought and shiny please."

Edward's head rolls to the side, his shoulders just an inch above Harry's and the brothers share a  
casual grin of mischief. Louis rolls his eyes in effect and tries removing Harry's hands from under  
his arms. He's not a baby and doesn't need to be held like this.

"Surprise us, petal." Edward says in perfect tandem as when they both turn their gazes back to him,  
causing a slight shiver down his back at how chilling the synchronisation was.

"Okay." He looks around for him, expecting an epiphany to hit him that marks the items they've  
been lacking.

How many people can say they have everything? Louis is both terrified and overjoyed at the reality  
that there's nothing missing in their lives, not for them at least. Maybe others could see flaws and  
faults in their lifestyle but that's what is perfect: the opinion of others didn't matter one bit.

"I already have an idea." Louis beams down at them, that silver glint in his eye adding power to his  
secret plan.

"Yes?" Harry traps Louis' hips in his hands, kneading the flesh until it's got his finger and hand  
prints leaving temporary red markings.

"It's a surprise, Daddy." Louis reaches over to the night stand to unplug Edward's charging phone.  
It's on sixty-two percent but he's not too fond of his own phone and resolved to using either one of  
the twins' at all times. "Can we get a tree?"

Edward is the one to respond, tracing circles around Louis' ankles. "We can get one in the two hours  
we will be without you."

Louis' bottom lip is jutting out in an empathetic smile when he bends forward to kiss Edward. He  
hates leaving them as much as they hate to see him go.

He wakes up off the bed to pull some pants on with his shirt - conveniently the one with _Daddy  
E_ embroidered on it. Regular black jeans and a denim jacket are his choices, followed by Vans  
without socks and Edward's phone going in his pocket.

The separation is cruel on the two upright siblings watching him from the bed. Harry has his legs  
folded under him and Edward sits propped up on his elbows. 

Louis glances at the time on the phone he's carrying as he searches through miscellaneous items for  
his cash, not having been a fan of wallets ever. Edward wakes up from the bed and stops Louis'  
actions to hand him just one card.

"Thank you." Louis gets up on his tiptoes to kiss Edward's cheek and nab his credit card. "Try not to  
choose a big tree please."

Edward smothers his light laugh in favour of meeting his petal's lips halfway, not letting go of the  
card until Louis gets out of the twilight zone their kisses always seem to get him lost in. He huffs  
and retracts his body, falling back onto his feet and slipping the American Express card into his  
pocket with spare cash.

"Bye." Louis says finally, withdrawing from the impenetrable cage that the emerald talons of  
Edward's eyes made around him.

"This is not goodbye, petal. You will be back in two hours." Edward sends him off before he can  
rope the boy in and tie him to their bed.

Louis giggles and approaches Harry for his mini farewell. The younger Styles twin hikes his leg up  
on the bed before granting him his kiss. Two small pecks later where Louis holds onto both sides of  
Harry's face, the boy is ready to let go.

"Laters." Louis' blue melts under the heat of green.

Harry's hand only slips out of Louis' when the latter walks too far away towards the door for the  
hold to be maintained. His fingertips brush over Louis' and slowly the tingle starts to dissipate like  
the first time he felt it.

The first thing Louis does once he's out of that room is go to find Anne in the guestroom. She's there  
just waking up from her perch on the bed, looking up with a dazzling smile as she picks her  
handbag up. Louis thinks that it isn't too nice for her to be without fresh clothes everyday but he  
also imagines that the _finer details_ of her stay will be ironed out later.  
He hopes.

Why would her visit be taken so lightly? Maybe that's how things functioned, amongst so many  
other irregularities, in the Styles household. She reappears after five and a half years but her sons  
are no longer holding onto their shock after a day.

"Hi." He stands a tad awkwardly between the door and its latch on the wall. "Are you ready to go?"

"I am." She pulls the double straps of her purse over her shoulder and walks towards him with her  
phone in her hand, looking no more or less emotionally distressed than at breakfast. "Are you?"

"Yup."

He holds the door open for her and neither twin resurfaces from the master bedroom as they cross  
the apartment floor to the front door. Grabbing his copy of the key from the bowl at the doorway,  
Louis keeps it in his pocket just in case he comes home before the twins do from their tree  
shopping. He doubts that would be possible though.

"Thank you for um-" Louis tries to properly formulate sentences as they stand silently together in  
the elevator going down. "-for suggesting this trip."

Anne shifts a little closer to Louis as he backs up against the corner wall, making the boy tense up  
to ridiculous levels. Fortunately, the elevator doors slide open to welcome a family of four and he  
breathes out the air he didn't know he was holding in.

His gut instinct has developed to strongly in charge over the weeks he knew the twins. Each day  
meant the refining and culminating of a new reflex, some new sense that would one day help him in  
any offensive situation. Right now his red flags were up all over the place but he couldn't read them.  
He couldn't understand what they were telling him.

Looking to both his sides and back down at his hands, Louis felt his throat tighten and his palms  
turn distastefully sweaty. Those warning signs became clearer and clearer but by the time he  
focused his vision, the doors opened to the lobby and he had to start moving again.

Those red flags retired to the cave where his paranoia was rooted, making him promise himself that  
it was nothing but that. When nothing happens for the entire trek out to his car in the parking  
garage, he's made certain of that conclusion. Time away from the twins or one of them at any given  
time has been _rare_ and that's what made right now challenging.

"You look like you're dreading this trip, dear." Anne laughs as she waits for him to get his keys out.

"Well um-" Louis at last selects the correct key from a ring. "-shopping for Harry and Edward won't  
be easy."

"Not in the slightest, no." She agrees, climbing into the Audi after him on the passenger side. "Don't  
worry. I'll tell you everything you need to know about them."

He feels his mouth twitch into a smile. "I really hope so."

  
* * * * *  


The first store they visit at the biggest mall in Seattle is a clothing one, without surprise. Louis  
doesn't like the whole construction because the floors were transparent glass towards the edges of  
the railing and the elevators were dodgy. He found himself moving more cautiously than necessary  
and far away from the railings.

"This store started in Middleston, you know." Anne leads him into a fragranced, white-walled store  
with mannequins at the entrance. "Nobody thought it would pick up."

"I was one of those people sadly." Louis flips Edward's phone in his hand while he follows dutifully  
through the sparse racks of clothing.

There appears to be one of every kind on display and a person has to alert an assistant if they'd like  
their own. How strange. Louis can't spot a damn thing in here that will be befitting for either twin's  
closet. 

Anne seems to know what she's doing though, holding up a black jacket piece that's suspiciously  
shimmering. "Harry?"

"No." Louis shakes his head, checking the time again before looking up. "He's an unpredictable  
dresser. More colour, I guess."

Anne hums, setting the jacket back on the rack to move on. Louis feels guilty for having said that to  
their _mother_ like she didn't know her own sons. It was the truth however. She didn't know  
just how they've changed over these years.

He figures out that he's forgiven when Anne still asks his opinion on many things, very few getting  
a slim chance of his approval. He knew what he was getting as a mild present for them both but it  
wasn't something he could gift wrap.

They end up buying nothing except things for themselves. Louis doesn't regret it because a few  
Tshirts he found were of the perfect texture and colour to suit him. At the till they have to split up but  
not before Anne eyes the embroidered text over the left side of his current shirt.

Louis blushes at her raising her eyebrow at him and covers up the _Daddy E_ with the lapel of  
his jacket.

"If I didn't know them I'd blame you." Anne jokingly tells him, low enough for no one else to hear.

The next store that is graced with their presence is a little boutique selling trinkets of a festive  
nature. Louis once again finds nothing while Anne spends half an hour browsing, eventually the  
store owner who doesn't let things go makes Louis relent and buy a cheap key chain. He stands  
outside for the rest of the duration of Anne's purchasing.

His phone buzzes and he smiles for many reasons upon seeing the caller identification. "Hi."

At the flat they call home, Edward smiles too after hearing this particular boy's voice. "You're alive  
then?"

"Very much so." Louis giggles, holding the device to his ear. "Why did you call?"

"Can I not call you just to hear your voice?"

"You heard my voice less than an hour ago." Louis moves out of a little girl's way. "I'm still glad  
you get to hear it again."

"As am I, petal." There's shuffling on Edward's side. "Harry and I are going out for our tree."

"Yay." Louis feels real excitement bubble in his chest, unconsciously leaning against the railing he  
feared earlier. "We don't have decorations, Edward."

"Are you sure? I'm certain we packed them."

Louis laughed into the receiver. "Stop mocking me."

He just about realises where he is when there isn't any of Edward's voice to distract him. Silly as it  
is, he still gasps as he steps back and accidentally drops his phone. Edward grows concerned on the  
other side when his petal is no longer at his ear. 

"S-Sorry." Louis snatches up the iPhone and says into it after checking for any damage.

"What happened, petal?" Edward asks sternly, not allowing Louis the chance to realise how silly  
this whole thing was.

"I didn't realise where I was standing." Louis replies, going back to the shop's entrance. "It's fine."

"Where _were_ you standing?" His low tone sends silky shivers down Louis' spine. He  
recognises this voice.

"By a railing." Louis looks over his shoulder and finds Anne finishing up inside. "I think I have to  
go."

"Be careful then, petal. Don't stand in front of any railings." Edward's smirk is audible and makes  
Louis roll his eyes.

"Oye." Louis stops him from hanging up. "I love you."

Edward takes a breath to let the words brand itself a home in his chest where the most vital organs  
were. "I love you, baby. Stay alive for me so I can tell you in person again."

Hanging up was hard but had to be done. Louis wishes every lovesick teenager was experiencing  
what he was but nobody ever would. He hated the twins at the very beginning and now he's never  
missed anyone the way he misses them. A love built on hate had to be unbreakable.

"Where would you like to go?" His guest companions comes out with a third small packet and  
stands by him.

"I have no idea." He feels lighter for this entire journey, and mentally thanks Edward for that.

Louis ends up visiting a retail store before they can resume any serious shopping, to buy his  
favourite chocolate bar. He flashes the security guard a smile and is instantly allowed to eat in a  
clothing store with a no food policy.

"Anne?" He calls out as he follows closely behind her through the perfume section.

"Yes, dear?" She leaves the newest 007 fragrance but Louis picks it up, loving the peppermint scent  
and hoping one of the twins will wear it.

He takes a deep breath, preparing to speak about what was previously bothering him. "Thank you  
for being here. I know Edward and Harry have really missed you."

She stops studying fabric to smile at him warmly, all sugar cookies and milk. Something fleeting  
crosses her eyes that Louis disregards when he's pulled into a hug like none of the ones his own  
mother gave him.

"Thank you for taking care of them. They're grown men but it still doesn't feel right to see them  
alone." She whispers into his shoulder, overwhelmed by all the new facets of her sons' lives.

"I love them very much." Louis says, that little sparkle being reborn in his eye. "What did you mean  
earlier when you said-"

"Oh dear, don't worry about that." She even kisses his forehead before pulling away. "I was afraid  
you weren't here for them."

"Why else would I be here?"

"My boys have everything." Anne sighs, some of her true age showing. "Their family's wealth and  
with or without taking into account the problems they experience, people can latch themselves onto  
them for the money. They don't deserve to be strung along for material gain, Louis. After the things  
they've seen in this world, they deserve someone like you to really love them."

Louis is awe struck by her words to him and finds it difficult to find any suitable response. "AAnne, I-"

"I know." She smiles and embraces him again. "I know how happy you make them and they you,  
dear."

There actually turn out to be some gems that he finds in this place, of good quality and reasonable  
pricing. He walks around with three hangers digging into his wrist, trying to build on that.

Christmas songs are playing everywhere and radio hosts are chatting about their plans, every detail  
blasted through the speakers.

Louis loses Anne somewhere between the shoe and sock sections, listening more intently to George  
Michael than anything else. He tosses the wrapper for his finishes chocolate bar in a nearby bin and  
goes to find her after discovering the ideal couple of button-ups that Edward likes so much.

"I think we're done here." Anne proclaims after examining their piles of clothing. "Yeah, definitely  
done."

After paying with cash or credit, Louis asks Anne to join him for lunch. The seafood restaurant in  
the middle of the food court becomes their intended and he enjoys his meal while Harry interrupts  
him with a text.

_'I miss you, petal'_

Louis smiles to himself and his lap when he reads it, biting his lip but still unable to contain the  
burst of fondness he has for Harry. He types two consecutive responses.

_'I miss you too, Daddy'_

_'We're almost done'_

Harry's answer comes after three agonising minutes and Louis remembers that they are tree  
shopping.

_'Found the perfect tree, petal. Come home to me soon.'_

  
* * * * *  


Anne and Louis have done just about enough Christmas shopping and pile every bag into the back  
of his Audi to go back. Louis realises that they never had the conversation they were supposed to,  
but after a day spent with her he knows she's really here for the right purpose.

Just as he's about to open the driver's side door after unlocking it and shooting a message to Harry's  
phone, three things happen in quick succession.

The door closes on his hand and his screech of excruciating pain is concealed by pressure over a  
point on his neck. It feels like a hand digging into his sore spot, great strength applied. It becomes  
so great that he falls to the ground and his blood stops beating in adrenaline.

Defeat sinks in and he hardly has time to comprehend what's happening before everything goes  
black, a blurred image of red hair being the last thing he sees.


	42. Chapter Forty-Two

***NARRATOR'S POV***

Dexter had one purpose, just like the reason behind everything he did it was premeditated and  
carefully executed. He wasn't a hateful man if not provoked but right now he was _fuming_  
because the person he meant to capture isn't here. Instead, he has the boy who he moved on from  
but never forgot about.

Louis is still as beautiful as he was in that single photograph stolen from him by Dexter's own kin.  
The boy looked ethereal, magical. His eyes were closed but the skin of his eyelids sealing them up  
threatened to be so soft, so addictive. Little purple and red veins were visible from beneath the  
papery pale skin.

On his side the boy lay, unconsciously curled up with the occasional twitch from his fingers. His  
lips were parted and he breathed heavily even in this forced slumber, clothes dirtied but that did  
nothing to ruin his angelic appearance. On a filthy stone floor Louis added the light that previously  
never existed.

Dexter could see why his sons would defy him for this innocent soul. He can't think of a damned  
thing he wouldn't do for someone this precious.

He felt like a criminal for the first time, taking this which isn't his. Never will it be his and he didn't  
feel the loss now that he had his own star. In spite of these reassurances as he paced around the limp  
form of his sons' lover, he felt the anger being born and primmed inside his chest.

He went for _that woman_ and she evaded him like she was expecting him, incidentally  
leaving this boy to get nabbed instead. Dexter knelt by Louis' head and curled his fists so he wasn't  
tempted to touch him. This person isn't his and he had no right.

Dexter would never allow a person on this earth to touch his own star, his wonderful beauty. How  
can he ever allow himself or anyone else to bend the rules by his sons? He has to do the right thing  
here even if he didn't want to.

Maybe later though because he'll resent this opportunity if he didn't at least have a little fun first.

  
* * * * *  


When she saw him first he was a few meters away behind a benchmark pillar in the otherwise  
empty parking lot. It wasn't so barren when they got here, but the hour meant that many people with  
families and partners had gone home to them.

Anne began to fret the second she recognised those red locks, like fire and molten lava on the  
shoulders of a demon. She opened her mouth to shout something at Louis, but no voice escaped her  
dry throat and only her flight instinct worked.

She saw the whole thing and despite her connection with Louis, she couldn't bring herself to help  
him. 

Dexter was too much of a threat to her and her heart. She could never return to his life or his arms.  
Never. It didn't matter what it would cost her. Her boys will understand after so many years of being  
by her side through thick and thin. How can they not?

Not to mention, the biggest worry is how were they found? How did Dexter, a permanent refugee in  
Middleston, ever come to know about them in Seattle?

  
* * * * *  


Louis felt his head spinning and his whole core of gravity tilting on its axis to add further dizziness  
to his symptoms. He groaned and held his forehead in his dominant hand, keeping his eyes closed  
until he was certain eighty percent of his senses were fully functional.

Then he realised that the surface his free hand held onto was plush and springy, leading to his initial  
reaction of panicking. The added adrenaline made him jump off the contraption to identify it as a  
bed in a foreign room that is dusty and dark, the air damp and heavy.

He looks all around him at every possible angle but can't see further than what the stingy light bulb  
above his head wanted him to see. His feet were cold and his bones rattled with shivers, his crossed  
arms doing little to sustain the body warmth.

Upon examination of himself with jittery fingers and unstable mental capacity, Louis discovered  
that he was untainted except for a lack of shoes. He curled his toes on the hard floor and scanned  
the darkness one more time at a three-sixty degree vantage point. He spots something a foot or two  
away that's blazing red but when he looks again, it's gone.

Fear begins to replace the numbness of his nerves. Dread overwhelms his ability to think,  
smothering his impulses of a steady survival instinct. He can only dig his nails into his arms and  
jump at every slight sound that makes his ears prick.

Slowly like the race of his sweat down the side of his face, memories of what happened creep back  
into his enabled brain. He remembers finishing the shopping and sending Harry a message to say  
he's coming home, but something _got_ him and that never happened. Where is Anne? Was  
she hurt too?

He can't see if there are any windows or doors at all, just a thick cloud of mysterious blackness that  
engulfs the space around him. The only weapon that wards off that blinding threat is the dull light  
bulb already flickering above his head.

"Petal?"

The voice makes him spin around and search for the speaker, but the echo dies and the depth of the  
tone isn't one he recognises. Harry spoke more gruffly, slowly allowing the words to melt over you.  
Edward was husky and gravely, hardly audible unless you knew him.

"Look at your left." The instruction made Louis' blood run ice cold and his head slowly inch in that  
direction. "Keep looking."

Out of the dark cloud that bordered on his small bright circle, came that same red flame from  
earlier. It was the tint of this man's hair and his smile was edging on nervous too as he extended his   
arm but Louis jerked away from it. He gasped when the stranger came into full light, revealing the  
crustiness of his dark eyes and wrinkles on his aged skin.

But there was familiarity on this individual. Louis could see the nose of someone he knew fondly  
and the jaw structure of the same. He looked at him in awe and horror, ringing ensuing in his red  
ears.

"Don't be afraid." The man's chapped lips pried away from one another to soothe his racing heart.  
He even smiled crookedly like _them._ "I know who you are and I won't hurt you."

Louis feels his throat go dry and an unwarranted shudder ripple out of him. The stranger from the  
darkness took a cautious step forward and moved his hands to his shoulders, shedding his jacket. He  
made the effort to confuse the Hell out of Louis by stepping forward again, forcing himself to be  
modest as he draped the heavy leather jacket over Louis' shoulders.

He smelt of rain, that earthy dampness, and soil that had been washed away in repeated sweeping  
motions. He smelt of rusted metal that was the aftertaste of blood and sweat from physical exertion.  
Those beady, empty eyes met Louis' after the boy processed his act of kindness and Louis  
_knew_ who this was.

"Oh my God." He nearly tripped as he hurried to back away, still clutching the jacket that blanketed  
his narrow chest and arms. "Y-You're Dexter."

"I am." Dexter flashed him an unpredictable grin and Louis could visualise Harry doing the same. "I  
didn't think you'd know me."

Louis keeps silent and can't do much for the sneeze that claws its way up his throat, exiting him  
painfully. He sniffs with a red and sore nose, voice clogging up.

"Get on the bed again." Dexter urges, gesturing for Louis to do as such. "You don't have to sit."

Hesitantly, Louis locates the thin mattress on the floor and stands on it. The cold can no longer  
reach his bones and he feels his chest settle from the shock of a sneeze.

"I will return you to my sons." Dexter goes on to say, completely at ease now that they're  
acquainted.

Louis stares at the tearing threads of the mattress with creaky springs for as long as he can. "NNow?"

"Yes." Dexter gives him the answer that makes Louis' head snap up. What? "I have no purpose for  
you."

"Then why am I here?"

"I made a blunder." Dexter claps his hands together once and shrugs. "It was never you I was going  
after."

Louis briefly thinks about the time Edward told him that Dexter was in fact looking for him. Now  
he's in that man's presence and he hears another story.

"My sons took you away because they thought I was still looking for you." Dexter interrupts Louis'  
thoughts to say. "I stopped a long time ago, Louis. I found someone else."

Louis can't voice it but he is so afraid that this man is lying to him. He doesn't know where they are  
and how to get out. He doesn't feel drugged but neither is his body completely reliable.

"You don't trust me?" Dexter's red hair flies onto his shoulder and Louis sees the roots that are  
turning white. "Let me put it this way."

Louis turns around as Dexter does, eyes following the man wherever he went as he circled him and  
the mattress. He walked in an undone dress shirt and dirty black pants, the belt frayed and shoes  
scruffy.

"You are Edward's petal, Harry's petal." Dexter starts, voice crawling up the walls and bouncing off  
one another in echo form. "Just as you are now solely theirs, I have someone too. I would lay my  
life down for that person and hence the reason I don't plan to hurt you. I don't want my sons to  
grieve."

Louis listens to the ringing getting fainter and the thumping of his blood becoming less prominent.  
He feels like his heart isn't breaking through his ribcage. This man didn't speak in riddles and yet his  
words were somewhat poetic.

"So-" The sudden impact of Dexter's palms made Louis recoil. "-let's get you back to my boys."

"Wait." Louis' voice was louder than Dexter's somehow. "I don't understand. Why were you  
_there_ if you weren't coming for-for me?"

Louis is hoping this will suss out whether or not the scary individual is lying. If he is, Louis doesn't  
have a clue yet on what he'll do.

Dexter's sigh is nearly robotic as he bows his head and his shoulders hunch forward. "I came for  
someone else, the woman who was with you."

"A-Anne?" Louis is a little surprised but he also doesn't recall putting the pieces together of the  
Styles family tree.

"Yes." Dexter looks up at him, reminiscent. "She didn't make me aware that I had offspring, let  
alone three. I had something to settle with her."

Nodding, Louis feels his gut sink to the depths of a world underground. He knew those red flags  
were going to mean something but he had no indication that it wouldn't be directly Anne's fault. His  
reservations about being around her have been proven true and worthy.

"Is that all you have to ask me?" Dexter presses the matter. The sight of this boy may not hurt his  
eyes but it injures his heart. He doesn't want anything to do with Louis because he won't be seeing  
him beyond this day.

Louis can only move his head in a gesture to convey his acquiesce. He clears his throat and winces  
at the sensation of thorns on the sensitive tissue, nicking him everytime he breathes.

Dexter deviously grins at the ground, opening out the right side of his body by extending his arm.  
Louis just about misses the double meaning that the man projects in a momentary lapse of   
judgment. He feels like his red flags have been strapped down to the ground so they're crippled, but  
the mood here is empty enough already.

  
* * * * *  


"Ma?" Harry sees his mother open and close their front door, straightening his back from where he  
leaned against the counter with Edward. "Where is Louis?"

Anne begins to doubt her entire approach the moment she hears that question, confirming what she  
suspected of the fact that her sons' priorities have shifted to someone else. Edward frowned at her  
dishevelled state, hair and spirit upheaved.

"What happened?" He makes his way calmly around the kitchen island with his fists balled at his  
sides, jaw clenched painfully with the horrific consideration of why their petal isn't present.

"Dexter." Is all she managed to get out, labouring for breath. "Dexter is here."

Edward froze stiff on sight, nostrils flared in dire hatred and predisposed anguish. His whole  
attempt to get Louis away from Dexter has failed. _No._  
"It's your fault." He suddenly accuses, surprising even Harry who just made it to join them in front  
of the fireplace.

"Edward-"

_"Isn't it?!"_ He roared, eyes depicting the blazing image of the flames on logs to their left.

He looked demonic with how he towered over her, a head taller and leaner but with the intimidating  
muscle structure such as his. Harry opened his mouth to intervene on his mother's behalf but  
Edward shot him a warning glance and he shut up. He's never seen his brother become so scary, not  
for anyone or any amount of danger.

"I-I-" Anne stammered and stuttered for an excuse or reason, but her mind was blank because she  
_was_ at fault. She could have saved Louis from being taken because she knew why Dexter  
was there in the first place. "Son, I'm sorry."

Harry forgets about defending his mother after that. His horror shows in the way the green of his  
eyes are reduced to slits, the black taking over the way it did with his senses. He never expected  
such betrayal from the woman he loved, held so dear since birth.

"I'm so sorry I didn't-" Reaching out to Edward proved futile when he shoves her hand off with  
more brutality than has ever been directed at her before. "Edward!"

"Don't!" Harry shouted back, eyes turning bloodshot and skin turning red with pent-up frustration.  
He pulls on his own hair and stalks away from her, elbow colliding with Anne's palm. "Just shut- How _could_ you?!"

"I didn't think he'd harm Louis." Anne says, cringing at her own choice of words. 

Harry felt inexplicably nauseous at the thought of Louis getting hurt. He mirrored Edward's trauma  
and dysfunctional state without their third component to keep them alive. When the doorbell rings,  
everyone goes rigid.

Edward isn't afraid of anything that could be on the other side of that door. He jumps up from where  
he was seated, holding his head in his hands, to race towards the obstruction and grab the handle.  
The door swings open with the amount of strength he utilises to yank on it.

He has to lower his gaze to see what's there to behold. There on the ground lay a single polaroid  
photo that's folded in half and he needs to crouch to pick up. Harry leaves any attention of their  
neglectful mother to join Edward, standing behind him when his older brother gets to his feet.

"What is it?" He dares to ask when the dramatic effect leads to Edward momentarily closing his  
eyes to relax before opening it.

Breathing has become the hardest task to accomplish and oxygen has become scarce anyway,  
leaving their lungs shrivelled up and blackened. Harry peers over Edward's shoulder easily and has  
his hand resting on the other's back, leaning forward just to be knocked cold by the image presented  
to them.

The photo cleared up from the fog of being freshly taken. In it was their sweet, lost petal sitting on  
something with duct tape around his mid-section so that he was taped to the chair. The photograph  
was taken from a higher point and his side so the side of his face as his head lolled onto his shoulder  
unconsciously was clearly visible.

His cheek was bruised and cut up with tiny incision, his temple dripping a red substance that stained  
the white shirt he wore. Harry could identify any injury inflicted by a fist and he knew how this one  
came about, grabbing the photo and staring at it with mindful vibrations coursing through him. His  
eyes were wild and beastly, his knuckles stinging where the bruise on Louis' face was and Edward's  
fingertips burned at the sight of those small but numerous cuts.

Louis was also unconscious, asleep and unaware unless the blow was the thing to knock him out.  
His neck was so thin, so frail as it suffered in supporting the weight of Louis' head. His arms were  
tied behind his back and jacket was gone.

Edward could only turn burning red on the inside as the memory of that picture burned its way into  
his skull. He swallowed hard, hurting his throat as the pained lump got through.

"He's got him." Harry states, voice strangled. "We have to get petal back."

"He found us and now it's our turn to find him." Edward screwed his jaw tightly shut, raising his  
head from the floor to the opposite wall. "I know where to go."

  
* * * * *  


Niall rushed out of the cab at the dock of warehouses at Seattle's closest harbour where he was told  
to go by Dexter. He paid the driver and watched the yellow taxi drive away before moving towards  
the warehouse labelled as number seventeen.

He had to push the heavy metal sheet that served as a door to the side, nearly cutting his fingers on  
the edges with the energy he needs. He hisses and let's go just as it bangs against the ground with a  
loud thud. Making his way past the gap he created into the empty space of this abandoned structure  
where it smelt of dead fish and old tools.

"Dexter?" He calls out, dusting off grey specks from the shoulders of his jacket.

Footsteps ensued from his left, heavy and solid with a small click of a possible heel. "Close  
enough."

That unfamiliar voice made him spin around to face it, backing up instantly at the sight of Harry  
rather than who he was expecting. Rather than open space that would allow him a clear view of any  
exit points, his back collided with a hard chest. Spooked, he jumped forward to escape it but  
Edward's grip caught onto his arm and twisted it at his back.

Harry was spinning a set of keys in his right hand as he continued crossing the distance forward,  
setting Niall's heart on a jackrabbit's pace. Edward grew impatient already before having asked any  
questions, pulling on Niall's arm until it was at a near impossible angle behind his back. Niall  
screams when the pain melts into his veins, breaking every barrier, and begins to build.

"How did you know?" Niall's teeth hurt from how hard he clenches his jaw his, staring up at Harry  
with rogue mixed feelings.

"Five years we've been at our father's side." Harry closes in on Niall, dropping the keys and his  
hand clamping down on the boy's face under his chin. "One year you're here and he starts

_changing_. We saw evidence of you in his room often enough but never said anything."

"Well then why didn't you?" Niall bites back, irritated and uncomfortable enough to turn feisty.

"To protect the person who was taken from us." Edward twists Niall's wrist and it bends at a degree  
that almost pops it out of the socket.

Niall shrieks and screws his eyes shut, wrestling aimlessly to free himself. "Let me go!"  
"Where is he?" Harry tightens his hand around Niall's throat. "We want Louis back."

"What?" Niall stops struggling, blinking away the tears that were forming in his eyes. "He has  
Louis?"

Harry nods stiffly, the words burn too much to admit with sound.

"He isn't supposed to." Niall tugs on his arm and Edward tuts, yanking on the other to punish him.  
"Ugh- _fuck._ I don't know where he is."

"Lying to us won't be wise."

"And don't I fucking know that." Niall glowers at Harry who looks to be as stiff as a statue. "I really  
don't know. He said he was coming for a reason that isn't Louis, I promise."

"Then what's the reason?" Edward kicks the back of Niall's thigh with his knee, almost causing a  
crack in his femur.

"He didn't specify!" Niall's leg shivers with strain and the cold. He wasn't going to help these  
lunatics anymore towards finding Dexter, his loyalty was deeper than that.

Edward grew more unpredictable, less in control as his eyes met Harry's and he shoved Niall to the  
ground to step over the coughing individual. He ran his hand through his hair and pulled on the  
ends, groaning loudly as he tried to think.

"You're going to help us find him and Louis." Harry bent over and looked Niall dead in the eye.  
"Whether you want to or I have to make you in really small pieces."


	43. Chapter Forty-Three

***NARRATOR'S POV***

Louis' head felt so heavy that he couldn't keep it up with just his strength, of which the levels are  
dwindling. He moans from the stinging pulses at the base of his nape, keeping his eyelids sealed as  
the skin against his eyeball turned from black to fuzzy grey to orange.

Where was he again?

He jolted awake when he remembered, his eyes flying open and his body jerking to the side where  
it nearly tipped over from the reflex. Thankfully his gravity was restored after the chair's legs  
merely lifted off the ground on the other side, settling back down with a squeak.

The right side of his face hurt tremendously and his cheek on that side was singing with pain each  
time the wind blew. Moisture and crustiness contributed to the conclusion that he was bleeding  
there.

His mind is able to register as it shrinks back into its shell of inner security that he's in the same  
room as before, except now he's certain of two things. First, the racing of his pulse alerts him  
blatantly that he's been lied to by Dexter. Second, the two chairs on his right have people in them.  
Familiar people.

"Oh _God-_ Liam?!" He whispers in urgency across the three feet between the next chair and  
him.

Although his vision is slightly impaired as are all his senses, that side profile is undeniably who he  
suspects it is. His arms are taped down and his stomach can't expand sufficiently to breathe but the  
hope presented by another known face is remarkable.

The biggest relief came when the man actually responded. He turned his head and blinked slowly,  
Liam's physical condition no better than Louis'. The former sat up as much as he could in his seat  
after seeing Louis there with them after they've been holed up in here.

"Louis?" Liam squinted through the poor visible standards. "Is that- What the fuck are you doing  
here?"

Louis spoke in a croak, coughing through the words that got too dry. "I-I don't know. I just- Dexter!  
Where is he?"

"Calm down, Lou." Liam tried to settle the boy down when he started to squirm dangerously.  
There was another sound that made Louis' hairs stand on edge and his fingers scrape the wood of  
the chair, but Liam in his creased and stained attire didn't panic. Zayn woke up after his unconscious  
bout, having lost count of how many of those there have been.

"Are we- Where the Hell are we?" Zayn couldn't be seen by Louis but he sounded busted.

"Same place, Z." Liam replies, sighing as his head hung low. "Fuck!"

"Whe-Where is that?" Louis asks shakily.

Louis needs to know where this is and how they got here. Why are Liam and Zayn here? Of all the  
people Dexter might know, why them? Where are Edward and Harry? Do they know that Louis'  
missing? The boy begins to feel thick misery creeping down his spiral of self-hatred.

Zayn has been under these restrictions with chafing skin and malnutrition for seven days now. The  
shock has worn off and now he's fucking pissed at the man who put him here, cursing the ground  
that psychopath walked on.

"Middleston, baby." He answered Louis' question without looking his way, all their chairs directed  
at the black cloud that was kept at bay because of a single lightbulb.

Louis didn't even care for the name that was tacked on at the end. They had bigger problems like  
why on Earth were they back here and how could they get out? It had to be for a purpose, for a  
reason of the mad man who had them locked up here.

"Why are we here?" Louis asks, a little frightened by all the unidentifiable sounds around him.  
Behind him were the worst.

"We don't know." Liam sounds drained and his body felt like its core ingredient is sandpaper. "We  
stopped trying to ask."

"What happened then?" Louis tried to not let them give up hope the way they were. "How long  
were you in here?"

"Couple of days." Zayn answers ahead of Liam, hollowing his cheeks for a weak inhale.

The duct tape around them was so punishingly strapped that it didn't allow for proper breathing,  
which inevitably led to headaches for all three of them from lack of oxygen.

"Has he done anything?" Louis asks, lowering his voice so it didn't echo. Just like before their  
captor could be hiding in those shadows waiting to pounce.

"No." Liam hardly has the energy to convincingly shake his head. "You're the last person we  
expected to be here, Lou."

Louis bowed his head, staring at his lap and the suspicious crimson hardened droplets on them. "He  
said he didn't come for me."

"He's a fuckin' liar!" Zayn erupted, not afraid to have his exclamation echoing through this  
structure.

In a flash of recollection backwards on a time-line, Louis feels a sharp jab to the inside of his skull.  
He gets a fleeting memory of how he actually got those awful bruises on the side of his face. There  
was a brutal collision that made his ears ring, his vibrating eardrums getting closer to letting blood  
flow free. Dexter had _punched_ him.

"Zayn, shut up. Save your energy." Liam said calmly, in a moderate tone. It keeps Louis' anxiety  
levels from skyrocketing through the roof.

"Save it for what, Liam?" Zayn snarls, something unpleasant making its home in his eyes.

"To get out." Louis takes the responsibility on of replying. His anxiety is becoming tougher and  
tougher to battle, the racing pulse and throttling headache.

"No offence, sweetheart-" Zayn's sickening tone makes Louis' stomach churn. "-but you and your  
_boyfriends_ are to blame for this whole fucking thing."

"That's not true." Louis shakes his head, eyes closing again. "You went digging around somewhere  
you shouldn't have."

Zayn is no closer to getting his temper under control. "Wasn't it you who asked us to do that?!"

"Where's Niall?"

Louis' sudden reminder takes him back to his absent blond friend. He knows where everyone is in  
this intricate web except Niall. Is he still okay? Louis hopes so. His friend has been put through  
drama that wasn't his fault all because of him.

"Don't know." Liam doesn't allow Zayn the chance to answer him with a snide comment. "We didn't  
see him for a day before we woke up in this place."

Louis swallows the dry lump in his throat and they fall into a dead silence for a minute more,  
listening for any amount of sound that could aid them in identifying where they are. The creepy  
absence of sound is unrelenting instead.

The ground scrapes against tiny paws, like _small_ claws scratching the stone as a multitude  
of things sniff the air.

"What's that?" Louis' mind leaps at the sound, his heart in his throat.

Liam listens for it just as Zayn does. They've been here for days before but never heard this before.  
In the dark, empty cloud that surrounded them lay dozens of rodents that were too afraid to come  
into the light. Some moved in and out of it too quickly to be seen.

None of the trio could lift their legs off the ground because of the tape all around them, nailing their  
sore limbs to the wooden posts of the chair and controlling their intakes of air. Louis couldn't see a  
thing in the hovering black mass as it seemed to try stepping closer each time he blinked.

"Rats." Zayn identified with a heavy exhale, struggling with his chair all over again.

"Rats?" Louis frowns and the small valley of skin above his eye allows three droplets of blood to  
drip onto his eyelid, nearly blinding him.

"I don't think these rats are fed, Louis." Liam tells him, also fighting with the tape that won't budge.

"They've been hungry for too long. Get your feet off the ground anyway you can." Zayn orders  
them. "Do it now!"

"They're scared of the light!" Liam shouts at his partner, craning his neck.

Just then, the single lightbulb goes out and the black cloud falls onto them like a crowned victor.  
Everyone screams as the scurrying foot-work of the vermin race forward towards them.


	44. Chapter Forty-Four

***NARRATOR'S POV***

"I can't believe you're handcuffing me." Niall didn't resist when Edward grabbed his wrist and  
knocked it against the railing he was attaching the boy to.

Edward gave him a look to shut him up. His eyes were stained with bloody veins that struggled to  
carry blood to and fro the way they would if he wasn't torn apart inside. He tightened the cuff linked  
to the wall to inhumane confines until it guaranteed bruises on Niall's wrists.

Anne was still there, never having sat down once after her sons returned with a third person she  
didn't know. "Edward, is this necessary?"

"Yes!" Harry was most perturbed by his mother at this point in time and would blow his top off  
everytime she said something.

Edward shouldered past Anne and glared at her when she tried to touch him. He didn't want anyone  
who wasn't desired touching him ever. "Harry, did you call home?"

Home was still Middleston where Gerard is residing at their Manor. It always will be no matter how  
far away on the other side of the world they went. Harry was made to make contact with Gerard so  
that some information could be found out about Dexter's whereabouts.

Harry nodded and got close to crushing the empty water bottle in his hand. "He's looking."

Edward felt helpless when he heard that there was nothing more to do than wait. He listened to  
Niall's shifting for a round of thirty some odd seconds before making a fresh decision, a colder one  
that originated with the monster that took the reins of his mind.

He looked over to the uncomfortable hostage and how unaffected he looked by being here. Neither  
brother suspected that he would ever be, seeing as he's in the worst possible position in this  
scenario.

Edward wanted revenge for whatever happened to their petal. He knows there's a bold mark on the  
side of Louis' face wherever he is - the uncertainty killed him - and he was going to put a mark far  
worse on Niall to exact punishment. The ignition of something beastly awoke in his subconscious as  
Harry realised as well what his brother was thinking.

Harry brushed Edward's arm and spoke in his ear, two sets of eyes zeroed in on Niall. He was the  
more hands-on brother and would love the honour of performing any attack.

"Let me." He whispered to his elder twin, not changing the destination of his gaze.

Edward turned his head without the need to lower or heighten his eyes because of their identical  
features. He found comfort for a tiny bit of the ache in the broken cage of his heart when he kissed  
Harry, no other touch taken from him. His lips feel like ice on lava and that's partly what soothes a  
little bit of the burn in the voids they've recently developed.

"Not too much damage." Edward pulls away from the connection and finds it impossible to even  
render himself smiling so his attitude remains bleak.

"We'll get him back." Harry reassures his brother with as much effort as he can muster. His spirit is  
as dampened as Edward's is. "I know we will."

Edward fully turns away from all the intruding outsiders that are in their home. Their new  
_home_ that they're supposed to be sharing with their darling petal. Now, that connection has  
been temporarily severed up until the moment they get that boy back.

It felt like a knife digging into their nervous system, paralysing their mental state but driving their  
physical form to disproportionate over-active functioning. One part worked ahead the other and the  
battle to maintain their opaque sanity became harder and harder.

"I know, brother." Edward frames Harry's right cheek and rests his forehead against the other's.  
"Have we ever felt this way before?"

They were a single system, two bodies mounted on one ghastly control to operate as one. What one  
felt, so did the other.

Harry kisses Edward's forehead but it doesn't feel like Louis' kisses and Edward has to close his  
eyes tightly to keep the heartbreak in. "No and it won't last long either, brother. We won't have to  
miss him for long."

Edward never has to imagine a life without his twin. It would be a ferocious and ugly one with half  
of himself missing. "Go now and do what you love to do. I'm sorry I've deprived you of it."

"It wasn't your choice. It was mine." Harry has hardly ever felt the emptiness of not having blood on  
his hands because there was their petal to keep him distracted, to keep him _happy._

"Go, pup." Edward releases Harry and nudges him in the right direction away from him. "I want to  
watch."

Harry gave him a conditional smirk that quickly fell down to the pit in his abdomen where  
everything good to him disappeared. He spun around on his heel and completely ignored Anne  
where she stood biting her nail at the window when he approached Niall.

The boy looked up and scrambled back against the wall he had as support, eyes tired from lack of  
sleep for two days but not giving in to exhaustion now either. Harry caught his ankles and the cold  
touch froze Niall's resistance.

In his all-black attire of jeans and a clinging T-shirt that exposed every ridge and flex of his  
muscles, Harry looked like he came straight from Hell with the matching shade of his eyes.

"Look at this." Harry fishes out the poor polaroid photograph from his pocket and without sparing  
any glance at it for the sake of his own emotional distress, shows it to Niall.

Niall gasps at the terrible sight of his best friend in such a state. If he could, he'd have covered his  
mouth so the quivering of his lips weren't visible. He knows who did this and is aware that Dexter  
promised him no harm would come to Louis. Yet, here this image is depicting a beat-up right side of  
Louis' face.

"Is this-" He had to _make sure_ this wasn't a ruse before he does what he's prepared to do. "Is  
this real?"

"What do you think?" Harry catches Niall by the side of his jaw, all his fingers pressing painfully  
into the boy's face as he forced him to look. "Look at him! Do you think _we'd_ do this?"

Niall becomes terrified by the lurking danger that inhibits Harry's dark eyes, sucking in sharp  
breaths as his body starts to shudder. He can't look away from the picture, can't recover from it now  
that he's seen it. Dexter lied and he won't forgive that.

"He-He said-" Niall closes his eyes to get his words straight and stop any stress tears from rolling  
down his cheeks. "He _said_ that he was coming here for the woman who had his children."

Everything in the apartment comes to an abrupt standstill but Niall continues anyway because if he  
doesn't get it out now he'll regret wrongly keeping it inside later. Anne stares out the window a little  
longer, wincing at the words that indicate to her.

"He's in Middleston." Niall goes on again, feeling betrayal grow more and more. "I don't know  
_where_ Louis will be but I know he's still in-"

"The Madhouse?" Harry more hurriedly offers the end of that sentence. "He's still in...._the  
Madhouse._"

Niall nods to confirm it, finally tearing his focus away from that photograph. "It's the only place he  
can be and I don't care what you do to get them back."

Harry turns around with one knee on the ground to look at Edward, who is already redialling Gerard  
for a smaller search area. He looks back at Niall feeling no less determined than he did when he first  
went to him. Whether or not this boy decides to switch sides, Dexter will still know pain by harm  
done to Niall.

"Thank you." Harry hears his brother talking to someone and takes it as a signal to get something  
done.

"But?" Niall was awaiting the add-on to Harry's gratitude that he was to expect after what he's done.

"But-" Harry got to his feet and revealed his car keys that dangled from his middle finger, before  
snapping his fist closed to that the tips peeked out from a tiny gap. "-we still have a point to prove."

Anne screams when she witnesses her younger son slam his fist into Niall's cheek, a fierce impact  
making the boy's bone release an audible crack with how _hard_ the force was. Her hands  
shake as she tries to cover her face but still sees the blood stream down Niall's face from temple to  
clavicle, marking his skin and draining his body.

"Harry!" She felt with each shout she got more shrivelled up on the inside, watching the boy she  
grew up go one step below mutilating.

"Shut up!" Edward barked at her from the kitchen, using a voice that frightened her into quietly  
sobbing behind her palm.

Harry hadn't heard her and wouldn't have stopped even if he did. He was only satisfied after he'd  
delivered three consecutive blows that bruised his knuckles, allowing all the rage and misinterpreted  
_hurt_ to fuel that violence.

The entire right side of Niall's face is sliced open by the jagged edges of the keys Harry used,  
leaving ugly gashes down the length of his skin. The blood gushed down in heavy rivers to gather at  
his collarbone or soak into his shirt. He spits out the blood with saliva onto the floor as Harry walks  
away to rejoin Edward.

"Gerard found him." Edward says, dropping the phone onto the counter.

"Do we show him?" Harry weakly gestured to the mess of a boy he left sputtering on the floor.

"No." Edward said with gritted teeth, staring out the window where his mother once was. "Leave  
him _alone_, Ma."

Anne stopped moving towards Niall as the boy also looked like he didn't want her help though he  
needed it. She was shivering with the slide-show of all the sinister actions she'd missed all these  
years. Now she knows what Louis had to accept of them and why they're so dedicated to getting  
him back.

"We don't show Dexter." Edward said next to Harry.

If they did, he couldn't bear to think of what it might trigger in the man to harm their petal, their  
_love_. He couldn't let that happen. Dexter can see what they'd done, the extent that they'd go  
to for Louis, once they had him back.

"We're going to Middleston right now." Edward grabbed his phone and caught Harry's elbow to start  
moving. "Get Niall. He's coming with us."

Upon passing his mother while Harry uncuffs Niall from the railing, Edward pauses to inform her  
vaguely of their plans.

"You're coming too." Is all he says.


	45. Chapter Forty-Five

***NARRATOR'S POV***

Three people together in one isolated room, yet their combined energy is lower than that of a single  
person. _Three times_ have they been scared by the blowing out of their only light source and  
each time they were left with with minute teeth of rats gnawing at their clothing.

It felt them in anticipation of how much worse it could get. Louis ran out of a voice to scream with  
and only managed closed his eyes just as the room when black and he could cry through another  
subtle attack. Each time they didn't know whether or not anything was really going to happen, just  
that something _was_.

"I'm...-" Zayn had his head hanging low back between his shoulderblades. "I can't."

"You're fine." Liam assured him, not wanting anyone to give up at all even if it's been _so many  
hours_ of being locked up here with nothing but fear to look forward to.

Louis could see his body shaking, vibrating with whatever mild energy source was killing itself out.  
His hair was matted and greasy on either side of his face, hanging like a limp curtain. "I'm not."

"Louis." Liam swallowed the wet clumps of something awful tasting in his mouth. "Louis, co-come  
on."

"Liam, there's no way we're getting out of here." Zayn sighs in exasperation at Liam's tactics. "Just  
leave him to wallow."

"We're getting out, Zayn." Liam snaps at the other man. "There was.....-"

No matter how softly he try to say it, both pairs of other listening ears heard clearly what he was  
going to say. Zayn turns his head in Liam's direction. "What? There was what, Liam?"

"A tracker in my phone." Liam stares up at the looming abyss above their heads.

That tiny spark of hope is extinguished by Zayn's comment. "You're on _leave_, Liam."

"Exactly." Liam's neck arteries strain to be visible from under his skin. "That's why I didn't want to  
say anything."

If Liam's on leave when nobody will care to track him from being stationary in one spot for so long.  
He also doesn't have his phone anymore because his pockets were lighter, empty. Wherever it was,  
it had to be broken.

"Ugh- fuck, Liam." Zayn curses in frustration. "So now what do we try to do?"

"Lou? You still there?" Liam asks without opening his eyes, the absolute silence eating away at his  
patience. He knows Louis is most vulnerable in this case and he needs to keep checking up on him.  
"Yeah." Louis keeps staring straight ahead. 

Nothing on either side has changed except the rats moving about in the perimeter around them can  
be heard, notorious little rodents. His throat is closed up and sore, no resources left to utilise in reenergising himself.  
"What are you thinking?" Liam doesn't recognise the tone of voice Louis is using though it was a  
contemplative one.

Louis looks at him with a hint of something excitable. "I know where we are!"

"Well how the fuck do you know that?" Zayn groans irritably from the other side and Louis would  
glare at him if he could but this new information is too fulfilling to his senses.

"Listen to that." Louis makes everything go quiet and for the faint clink-clank sound in the  
background to become more prominent. "Do you hear it?"

"Yeah." Liam winces from the blow of a migraine. "It sounds like metal. Really loud metal."

"Keys." Zayn contributes after having listened for longer. He's just as desperate to be free as they  
are.

"Keys, yes." Louis, for the first time since he met the twins' mother, beams in the darkness that  
overpowers him. "After having worked in this place for a year, I know that those keys are for the  
East wing."

"We're back in the Madhouse, aren't we?" Liam sounds more afraid than he should be. The  
Madhouse is _not_ somewhere to return to.

"How do you know?" Zayn will not go out on a limb here with this boy's hunches. He wants  
definitive proof.

Louis chews his bloody and dried lip, blinking with one swollen eyelid. "Those keys have a steel  
chain holding it together. It makes that _exact_ noise everytime someone uses it."

"Louis." Liam says cautiously, his voice drained and tired. "How sure are you?"

"Completely." Louis feels fired up on the dregs of adrenaline his body has stocked.

"I don't know why we're here but the same guy put us all in here." Zayn says again to the others.

"Dexter lives in the Madhouse." Liam has to look between Louis and Zayn when saying something,  
the duct tape restricting the expansion of his chest as his breathing rate accelerates. "Why wouldn't  
he bring us here? He has nowhere else to go."

_"Shh."_ Louis quickly hisses, hearing those footsteps before them both.

Thankfully, Liam and Zayn aren't idiotic youngsters who love getting deeper into trouble. They  
understand why Louis did that and sealed their mouths to listen for the intrusive sound as well. It  
gets louder and heavier then a deafening bang that makes the pigeons in the roof fly off. Louis holds  
his breath and his nails gyrate against the wood of his seat, his head turned away from the possible  
entrance as he cringed ahead of Dexter's appearance.

But then there were more footsteps, just one more person and everyone became confused. The  
anxiety of their worry didn't wear off though and all three occupants of the room looked anywhere  
but at where the footsteps were getting closer.

_One. Two._ The first person stopped as it was extremely close to the edge of the dark cloud.  
The second continued until at that region. _Three. Four._

"Petal."


	46. Chapter Forty-Six

** _One. Two._ **

**The first person stopped as it was extremely close to the edge of the dark cloud. The second  
continued until at that region.**

** _Three. Four._ **

**"Petal."**

***NARRATOR'S POV***

Louis' head snaps up towards the sound, the human voice that _he knows_ better than his  
postal address and blood type. His eyes alone feel powerful enough to peel back the curtains of  
darkness that prevent him from seeing that person clearly.

He bites his lips, feeling rejuvenated and hopped up on the possibility that he's not hallucinating.  
His back arches away from the chair and the object creaks, trying to retain its prisoner but existing  
as if it's on Louis' side by shifting forward with his nudges.

Out of the cloaks of black unknown clouds comes a face, one of two, that Louis has been longing  
for all this time. He makes a compromising sound in the pit of his throat like a whine and whimper  
at the same time, neck craning painfully in Harry's direction.

Seeing Harry rush towards him and land at his knees before Louis, has the boy starting to babble  
nonsense. His mind could be playing a trick on him after such severe dehydration and lack of  
nutrition. Fortunately, it's all ripe and true when the second shadow materialises and there Edward is  
striding over to him.

"Edw-Edward-"

"Petal." Edward cups Louis' cheek and gives him a tender, loving kiss that spoke the thousand  
words for him. "Hush, baby. You're safe now."

There's no one else that comes after them and even if Louis knows they have to get out of here  
before that changes, he can't wait for Harry to finish undoing the rounds of tape on his body so he  
can revel in the happiest moment of his life. Edward rips through the tape at his back and arms with  
a pocket knife, bringing Louis' nearly blue hands to his lips and kissing them with soothing  
massages of his fingers to bring them back to life.

Louis let's his reassurance of security bring his mind to a settled, calm frame of functioning. He  
feels Harry's scattered kisses from his neck to his knees as the man goes lower and lower releasing  
him from his binds. His vision is blurred by tears that have been withheld and his body falls forward  
once those restraints disappear, although his ankles are still strapped to the chair legs.

The relief floods him like the shield of a giant weighing heavy on his shoulders but being the best  
mass to carry. His body sags so suddenly and into Harry's lap that the chair also tips over. Harry  
circles his shoulders with his arm, holding back the chair with one vibrating arm that shook from  
the exertion. 

"Petal." Harry peppers the side of his neck and face with kisses. "Petal, my love. You're with us  
now."

That familiar cologne of Harry's fills and dominates Louis' senses, his hands curling into the man's  
half buttoned shirt. He wraps his arms around Harry's neck and shudders through his uncontrollable  
sobs into the man's neck.

Edward cuts through the remaining tape and flings the chair aside, making it his worst enemy of  
that time. He just about starts to feel the yearning himself when Louis falls into his arms and brings  
him down to the ground as well.

"Shh, baby." Edward squeezed his eyes shut and cradled the back of Louis' head, clutching the boy's  
thigh when he felt it curl around his hip. "I've got you, petal. I've got you."

Harry got up after one more kiss placed on Louis' wet and soft lips, resuming the responsibility to  
untie everyone in the room. He only slices through the tape at the back of Liam and Zayn's chairs  
where their arms were immobile. They could work themselves free from there on their own.

Still on the cold and hard ground, Edward was brushing through Louis' damp hair with his fingers.  
His navy silk shirt was sacrificed to Louis' tears staining them with dampness, creasing the  
shoulders with how tightly he held on.

Edward felt the pressure on his knees from how uncomfortable his position was, but didn't give up  
on rocking Louis' trembling form and murmuring things in his ear. He gave the boy lots of sporadic  
kisses everywhere on his upper half, an arm solidly locked around Louis' waist.

It was as painful as it was a joyous occasion to have Louis back, Edward's arms unable to stop  
holding him. His face stayed glued to the supple escape of the boy's neck.

He breathed out shakily into Louis' shoulder. "Are you okay, petal? Are you hurt?"

"N-Not hurt." Louis told him honestly, after all this time the pain in the side of his face was hardly  
registering.

"Okay." Edward pulled Louis away from hiding and examined his bruises, his slight injuries. "Okay,  
petal. We're taking you home now, love."

He met those deep blue eyes with his own wild green powerhouses, forcing a smile onto his lips.  
Louis coughed and that provoked a stabbing pain in his throat, wincing at how coarse it felt.  
Edward wiped his tears away and kisses his eyelids, removed the dampness from under Louis' nose  
and pecked his forehead.

The light goes out above their heads without warning and Louis knows what that means so he starts  
to scream, further injuring his throat.

"Shh. Quiet, petal." Edward seeks out Louis' lips in the darkness, effortlessly bringing himself to his  
feet with the boy wrapped around his lean figure. "It's alright, baby. We're here now."

Louis whimpers and hugs Edward with more commitment. He can't see anything around him but  
the footsteps and scraping of rats' feet on cracked stone is not a stale soundtrack. He still screws his  
eyes shut and breathes in broken pants, chest heaving after being constricted for so long.

Edward stands still while everyone gets themselves together. He sees the beam of light from a  
flashlight Harry brought and takes the needed steps towards it, hearing crunches and squeaks  
beneath his boots as he moved. Louis was cold and not raising his head from Edward's neck, easily  
leading to the duty of Harry removing his jacket to cover him with it.

"We're leaving." Harry informs everyone present, shining the light from the ground to where they  
came from. He sees it first and he nearly drops the instrument from shock. "Fuck!"

"What?" Liam, same as everyone, hadn't seen Dexter standing by the door. The only door they have  
that will grant them access to the outside world for freedom.

The light comes on again from under Dexter's fingertips controlling the switch, his deafening  
footstep forward making Louis flinch like a direct impact. Dexter clasps his hands together at his  
front, tilting his head to the side at this fresh sight with an unpredictable grin on his face.

"Well-" He marches closer by three steps and stops, every person's eyes on the hiding vermin  
departing from the blinding light. "-I hate disturbances, boys."

Harry looks at Edward for a brief second but Louis won't be having any more views of anything  
outside the dark cave made by Harry's jacket anytime soon. Liam rubs his wrists to bring back the  
blood flow and Zayn rolls his tongue over his molars, totally calm.

"Let us go, Dexter." Edward is the one to speak, possessing the least amount of fear for his father.

"I will." Dexter nods, ducking his head to look at his decrepit shoes before looking back up. "Of  
course I will."

Harry frowns in confusion. "Without any tricks. That might not be wisest right now."

Edward doesn't disapprove of his words because he's smirking devilishly like he knows something  
Dexter doesn't. "This game is _over._ You won't touch Louis again, Dexter."

Dexter reverses his curious puppy look to narrow his eyes on the back of Louis. "What makes you  
so sure?"

"You want your star back, don't you?" Harry steps ahead of his brother, passively shielding both  
him and their petal.

He watched Dexter's expression harden and arrogant eyes turn naked, swimming in the energy that  
triggers his shaking. Their father was so easily affected by Niall's mention while it might as well be  
code to everyone else.

"My star?" Dexter raised his chin but it did little for his attitude. "You have him?"

"We do." Edward rubbed his thumb over Louis' thigh, despising how thin the flesh has become.  
"You don't let us go and you simply won't have him back."

Dexter took the risk of not thinking about it and stepping away from the door instantly. It said a lot  
for his dedication towards Niall but little did he know Niall didn't want to see him again, not after  
this betrayal. Their escape was going to be difficult since Louis couldn't see Niall until after his face  
had healed - even if there threatened to be permanent scars. Anne couldn't come across Dexter or  
that might spark another conflict, another quarrel costing time neither twin was willing to spend.  
Both those individuals were downstairs and outside waiting in separate vehicles. Niall had bandages  
over his right eye and cheek that Anne had put there, while she herself paced back and forth in the  
Madhouse's parking lot.

Niall felt so unresolved sitting in this empty car that he stood up. "I'm going in there."

"What? No." Anne tried to stop him up until the main entrance staircase. "Niall, you can't."

"I have a part in this too." Niall gently removed her hands from his jacket. "I can't leave Edward and  
Harry to take care of it for me."

"That's not what this is, boy." Anne tries to convince him. "They're bringing Louis back."

"Yes and I have to help." Niall shook his head, steadying his nerves as he knew this was the right  
thing. "It's now or never for me, Anne. Thank you for the bandages."

When he walked up those steps taking two at a time, Anne made it her duty to follow him.

Upstairs by at least three floors, nobody suspected that the plan was about to busted as Edward  
made to leave the hostage room first. He still had Louis in his hold, never letting go, but his blood  
froze over after seeing the faces of two people who were never supposed to get up here.

He tried to silently signal them to leave but Niall wasn't having it and blatantly ignored him before  
bursting into the room and making everyone turn their heads.

"Niall?" Louis was the first to voice his confusion by finding his feet and frowning at his friend.

"H-Hey, Lou." Niall swallowed and his voice attracted the attention of the man to his left.

"Niall, you have to go!"

Liam was about to step forward and protect Niall from the cruel monster in human form as  
forcefully as he had to, except he stopped cold in his tracks when that _monster_ knew his  
Niall, his Duckling.

"My star?" All eyes head for Dexter, different emotions concentrated on the same pair of  
individuals.

In this room full of people, Liam and Louis are the only two who feel remotely the same while Zayn  
experiences a flood of numbness overcome him, fighting the hardest battle of his life to put two and  
two together. Niall? Niall knows Dexter? Niall is....is his _star_, as in the weakness of this  
twisted man.

Louis is also caught up staring at the bandages on Niall's face. They weren't soiled yet so whatever  
was beneath them had probably healed. The next thing he sees is Dexter's cold and hardened stare  
settle upon the same set of bandages.

"Dexter, no." Niall pushes the man away with the preventative circles of his arms, evading all  
chance the man has of holding him.

"My star." Dexter won't relent, won't give up where Niall is concerned.

Louis is flabbergasted to epic proportions. He looks to Harry or Edward for an explanation but all  
he gets is an affirmative squeeze around his waist from both of them and no verbal responses. What  
was _happening_, he'd like to know. Why is Niall so familiar with Dexter?

"Don't do this, my star." Dexter didn't know the look in Niall's eye from seeing it on the boy before,  
but from years of experience. "Don't let them do this to us."

Louis' hands slid further up Edward's up, one above the other with his fingers fanned out over the  
man's bicep. He blocked half his face from where he stood, the protective band of Harry's arm  
curled around his waist.

Do what? What was Dexter talking about?

Niall seemed to know that there was a lot of explaining to be done since he had his choice audience  
and a best friend to top things off who won't be very understanding of the reasons why he kept these  
secrets from him. He sighed and stepped back, out of Dexter's range but closer to his 'friends'.

Dexter noticed this change not going in his direction and his undeniable rage made the whites of his  
eyes turn red, scaring Louis and aggravating everyone else present. Each person expected  
something different to come off Dexter when he conclusively realised what was happening, until  
they saw the second unpredicted visitor.

Harry's head lifted from where his chin touched his chest and his eyes grew wide with worry. He  
shook his head at his mother ever so slightly because she was still outside but just behind Dexter  
and he didn't want the latter to notice her. Louis saw her too and he only had _seconds_ to  
realise that Anne wasn't going to adhere to their warnings.

His expression turns grave and resentful when she's a step beyond the boundary of the gaping  
doorway. The peripheral view of her seems to be enough for Dexter to pick up on her presence, his  
neck cracking as it snaps towards her and his mind going blank.

"No." Harry mutters it like a curse beneath his breath and takes the stride forward to push Anne  
back outside, keeping her out of harm's way.

Louis stops him from moving any further away from him, grasping Harry's wrist like a vice and  
stabilising him. Anne had a task to get done here and he's had it with people who make themselves  
known just to add flame beneath the stewing pot that is the drama forever circling them. He was  
going to give her the opportunity to fix whatever she was here to fix, judging by the trepidation in  
her movements.

Harry was forced to hang back against his dominant nature when his mother finally becomes visible  
entirely to Dexter's peripheral. Edward seems to either ignore her presence or ignore the fact that  
she is in fact closely linked to him, paying attention solely to Louis.

Dexter's upper hand in the situation that he had created in the delusion of his mind crumbles upon  
seeing her. The woman he's been after, here she is.

Unlike Niall, Anne knew exactly how to make Dexter back away. Niall knew his demons and the  
hereditary monsters that eventually crawled its way into the minds of his children, but Anne could  
_control_ them without knowing she wielded that strength.

"Ma?" Harry hoped to learn her motives so he could _stop it._ He was infuriated by her  
actions prior but this......this is too much.

Anne paid him no mind and went straight into Dexter's territory, while he was happy to have her.  
Niall took five huge steps back and landed himself amongst the right crowd. Louis' hand slid into  
Niall's and squeezed it.

When Anne had Dexter in a small enough corner where they could only hear one another, Edward  
hauled Louis out of the room without waiting for a word of argument. He had the boy off the  
ground once more and strode out of the room sans a moment's delay, Louis' only notice of surprise  
being his gasp.

Harry was frozen to his spot on the ground. He was staring with eyelids split wide open, doubt  
severing the confidence he had. This was goodbye, he could feel it. After this hour he'll never see  
his mother again even meant to survive without that false hope that she might return after half a  
decade.

"Harry?" Anne turned her head around to question him. "Harry, you have to _go_ now."

Dexter was looking at Harry with blank eyes, a frown almost forming on his features. Harry spoke  
up before that could happen. "What are you doing, Ma?"

Anne took a deep breath. "I'm doing now what I should have done a long time ago, Harry."

He wanted to hear her say it because he could be wrong, however slim the chances. He hoped he  
was wrong. "Wha-..... What's that?"

Edward had noticed how his brother wasn't following them anymore and knew that he just had to  
wait for him. He only stopped walking with brusque steps and a heavy chest when he was safely  
outside once again by the pair of cars they arrived in.

Louis hissed from the pain spiralling down his spine when Edward pushes him up against the side  
of the first car, a familiar Range Rover. He couldn't be more relieved, _happier_ to be released  
of the prison that is one unjust man. His fingers found their way to be tangled in Edward's hair, their  
harsh breaths matching as he connected their eyes and forgot all about the missing people.

"Oh petal." Edward cupped his cheek and jaw, their noses brushing as fragranced breath fanned  
over Louis' lips. "My love, you're okay?"

Edward kissed Louis before the boy could answer, making him whimper and tilt his head back  
against the car door. "I'm fine now that you're here. I-I missed you. I love you."

With a chuckle that his heart wasn't into, Edward covered Louis' body with his own in this  
moderately busy parking lot and kissed every available patch of skin. "I love you, petal. I knew I  
could not survive without you."

Harry was still upstairs but slowly walking away from this past of his. They all had little problems  
to take care of, to _leave behind_ before they walked out into the same world with a new  
agenda. His hand hit the railing of the staircase and the entire structure rattled.

He hadn't heard it in his mother's voice but he saw it in her eyes. She was going to stay here where  
Dexter was, holed up in this _dungeon of Hell_ so that she could keep an eye on him. It's what  
she was meant to do years ago but now her babies were okay with their own lives and hers was due  
to rejoin with their father.

The sun was so hard on his eyes when he finally stepped outside onto the platform above two dozen  
stairs that overlooked the surrounding properties of the Madhouse. It was his home for five years  
but then there was the boy with soft clothing and blue eyes waiting for him just like he is now on  
the damp pebbles of this parking area, and his home converted to a pair of comforting arms.

His head lifted from the rain-soaked concrete that hundreds of people stomped on to see that home  
now. Not being immune to that precious boy, Harry raced down the stairs two at a time and nearly  
slipped on the third round to get to him. It wasn't just him as Louis had socks on but still ran  
towards him and that's what made him upgrade to three at a time.

Their bodies collided at the perfect angle with the ideal force bulleting them onward into each  
other's arms. Louis jumped when Harry bent and they became the effortless unit of two souls in one  
body. The man spun him around to work off the tailings of excess energy before leaving kisses all  
over Louis' skin.

Louis smelt like he was losing the essence he once had but that could be easily fixed. He hugged  
Harry around his neck and the early hour had their exhales becoming white puffs of carbon dioxide,  
condensing on one another's lips. Harry licked his lips and swooped in for Louis', shutting down his  
other senses to taste his petal.

Small hands held Harry's shoulders as the latter's palms found Louis' thighs, nails digging into the  
flesh so fiercely that it almost felt bone. Louis whined and kissed the pale, pale skin of Harry's  
cheek so it turned rosy.

"I'm sorry." He made himself say, their lips now matching in colour as his sapphires found sanctity  
in Harry's forest.

Harry shook his head like none of that mattered because it didn't ever since he walked past those  
doors. "I would only be sorry if I didn't have you to hold. Hold forever."

Louis smiled his special smile that got the gears in Harry's chest grumbling. "Forever."  
Harry stole another kiss and felt rain hit the parts of him that weren't feeding warmth to Louis. "Say  
you love me, petal."

"I love you." Louis didn't hesitate and with kissing Harry's cheek, forehead and neck repeated the  
words twice more.

The lips of his dreams mapped its way to Louis' throat and Harry's teeth scraped his skin. "My  
beginning." Harry kissed his forehead. "My end." His chin. "My everything."

Niall was doing the hardest thing he'd ever have to do by saying his farewell to Dexter. Irrespective  
of all the wrong he had done by those around him, his feelings for that man and his monster were   
the only anchors he had to his true emotions. Nobody could love him for as long as he lived now  
and he'd deserve it.

Liam was ready to get out of this place but Niall wasn't moving yet and Zayn shared in his  
confusion. "Duckling?"

Dexter met Niall's eye for two heartbeats but everything was said in that communication so no  
words were needed. He understood that Niall was going and Anne could never fill that hollowness,  
just as Liam and Zayn couldn't for Niall. It had to be done anyway and one day they'd find love  
outside this misery.

"Bye." Niall could only say to keep their secret true, to keep it buried in the chest of his heart.

Dexter kept his mouth sealed for if he risked a sentence, it would be what makes Niall stay. He had  
to let his star go far away, love another and move on. Niall turned away and Liam was there to  
block the beautiful sight of that special boy.

Liam led Niall out through the crack that made it to serve as a door of the attic and Zayn followed  
so no danger reached Niall. They made it outside and Niall started to cry in Liam's shoulder,  
clinging to him with both hands and loudly sobbing because pain was so raw this way.

"Bye." Dexter finally said when only Anne would hear.


	47. Chapter Forty-Seven

_We all wear masks, illusions of what we want the world to see. But when we hide our true selves  
from the ones we love, what price do we pay for that deception?_

***NARRATOR'S POV***

_Six Months Later...._

Louis scribbled the final answer to his written examination three hours after his dissertation in front  
of a board of qualified doctors. He felt like his arm was going to give out under the intensity of the  
fluid penmanship his fingers were attempting. In the end, his handwriting turned to fowl-scratch and  
it couldn't be helped.

His final exam was _done_ and he could finally pop open a bottled of aged wine to celebrate  
the end of his academic road, and Hell if it hasn't been a long one.

He gave in his paper that felt crumpled at the corners and walked out of the hall with his pencil,  
feeling both lighter and further burdened. As much as he was confident about the paper, he knew  
that none of his answers came from the textbook he was supposed to study.

Louis didn't study one bit because everytime he picked up a volume to read, his mind floated away  
to all the memories he had developed and gathered. Every answer, every explanation and each circle  
on that answer booklet came from the last year of experience.

_A whole year._

His phone was ringing with the dial tone after he dialled Edward's number from Harry's phone - he  
had a new phone that never got any attention from him.

"Petal?" Edward answered after Louis counted to four, seated on the staircase outside his main  
campus building with his bag on his lap.

"Hi." Louis knocked his knees together and leaned against the line of potted plants to his left. "I'm  
done with my exam."

"Yeah? How was it?" He could hear Edward's signature smile.

"Easy, I would say." Louis scraped his nails over his pants. "I wanna come home now though."

"On my way, darlin'." Edward chuckled, already on his way out to the parking lot. "Are you hungry,  
petal?"

"Yes." Louis squinted against the sun's rays. His tummy growled just in time with the answer. "Are  
you going to cook for me, Daddy?"

"My baby just completed his studies. He can have me cook or order extravagant food for him." 

Louis giggled into his sweater paw and turns his shoes inward so the toes face each other. "Can we  
go out tonight? Where's Harry?"

"My brother is occupied in the guestroom." Edward replies. "We can go out wherever you want."

"Nevermind actually." Louis yawns into that same sweater paw, frowning when he sees someone  
jog up the stairs in his direction. "I want to stay at home."

"Petal." Edward sighs but doesn't argue further on the matter. He will do whatever his petal asks of  
him, anything at all. "Anything you want, darlin'. We'll cook you a meal that will-"

"Hi." Says this new individual with red pants and a black shirt.

He stood up tall in front of Louis with a sparkling smile and easily managed quiff. The stranger was  
easily in the upper class of a one to ten scale of attractiveness, but Louis only found himself  
growing uncomfortable. He shielded his eyes from the sun and looked up at him with a hesitant  
smile.

"Yes?" He listened to Edward pause and spoke to this person.

"Petal?" Edward was less than thirty seconds away from the campus grounds he had to reach,  
frowning at his speedometer when Louis spoke to someone else.

"Can I help you?" Louis took the phone away from his ear for a moment.

The stranger concealed most of his perfect white teeth with thin pink lips, rubbing his hands over  
his pants' pockets and looking at Louis with the most impassive brown eyes. His skin was lightly  
tanned, more golden than Louis' but still attractive as a complexion.

"Yeah um-" He spoke after clearing his throat when Louis got to his feet. "Sorry."  
He looked like he was having a hard time getting words out and Louis felt a little sympathy, so  
smiled as such. "It's okay."

Then the familiar black gloss of a Range Rover pulled into the queue of cars in the pick-up zone  
and he knew this conversation had to move along quicker.

"I'm Matt, by the way." The stranger stretches out his hand and Louis dreads shaking it, even as  
briefly as he did.

"Louis." He rushes to say, wincing when he heard a heavy slam of a car door and Edward's face  
appear from behind it. "I want to know where the Engineering building is?"

This is not good. This is not going to be good. Louis chews nervously on his lip as he figures out  
what to say to this person. Edward leaps up the stairs two at a time with a determined look of  
discontent on his face as he noticed what Louis was occupied with.

"Engineering? I think that campus is closed, Matt." Louis smiles apologetically and steps around  
him. "I'm sorry. I have to go."

"Oh yeah. Okay." Matt even moves to the side so Louis can take those first three steps with a little  
speed. 

Louis ends up face to face with Edward who is a couple steps below him, mouth twisted in a  
grimace. He gives the man his best smile and leans forward to kiss his cheek.

"Hi again." He hopes he's enough distraction to keep this man from going to Matt, for any reason.  
Edward is convinced enough to take Louis under his arm and bring him closer with a tug, uniting  
their lips in a fervent display of affection. He was easily placed as one of the easily provoked men  
on the planet. Louis smiles into the kiss and cups Edward's jaw, controlling himself when Edward  
licked into his mouth.

"My sweet petal." Edward took Louis' bag and thumbed at his jugular. "Why do any others get to  
see you?"

"It doesn't matter when only my Daddies can have me." Louis took Edward's arm when it was  
offered, choosing to ignore the smug satisfaction on the man's face when it circled his neck  
protectively.

Edward escorted Louis to the car like a gentleman when all his thoughts dictated more  
_possessive_ courses of action. Since they lived so close to Louis' college grounds, he has less  
than a minute before those dishonourable deeds can be conducted on the fairest beauty any mortal  
has ever laid eyes on.

Louis gets himself comfortable in his seat as the tinted windows roll up and the AC comes on.  
Edward closes his door a little harshly but all it does is make Louis giggle softly as he bowed his  
head. He did become a little squirm-y at an idea that popped into his head, guaranteed to have  
success in making Edward forget about that Matt fellow.

Given that he's never done this before, Louis is naturally a little nervous about his first road head  
experience. What if Edward just doesn't cooperate because he's that angry? Louis doubts it but it's  
still a worry.

He waited for them to be safely out of the college gates before making his first move. Edward  
looked so rigid and Louis slice the tension radiating off the man with a swipe of his finger. He  
leaned across the leather bound console and attached his lips to the patch of skin below Edward's  
ear.

Louis heard a stutter in the man's breathing pattern and it fuelled his confidence to start planting  
kisses, wet and with parted lips, across Edward's neck.

"Petal." Edward couldn't take his hands off the wheel, but sacrificed one to cover Louis' hand where  
it reached his thigh. "Petal, what are you doing?"

Louis nibbled on his ear lobe and undid his own seatbelt to get on his knees. He licked the shell of  
Edward's ear and felt a smirk of his own being born at the incoherent groan he got to hear, a  
noticeable bulge forming in Edward's pants.

_"Petal."_ Edward's hand got tighter around the wheel, his knuckles turning white and jaw  
tightening under the caress of Louis' lips.

"Shh." Louis pecked the angry vein in his neck and ducked under Edward's arm to be hidden from  
sight to any outsiders.

Edward came to a red light just outside their building when he felt Louis' nimble fingers trying to  
undo his fly. His surprise put him on edge as he refrained from stopping the boy, leather squeaking  
as his sweaty palms slid across it.

"Fuck, petal." His head hit the seat when his erection sprung free from the stifling confines of his  
jeans, into the warm clutch of Louis' hand.

Louis picked his head up, his clumsy self making Edward hold his nape so nothing harmful  
occurred. "Gimme kiss."

Edward obliged and tasted the savoury but candy sweet cushions that are his petal's soft lips. He  
moaned and licked a stripe across them, leaving a wet sliver from North to South. Louis squeezed  
his length and the light turned green.

"Keep driving." The boy instructed, not to be disobeyed, and his head of hair was only visible again  
as he dove back down to kitten lick the dribbling precome.

Fighting to not pull over and have his way with this magnificent boy, Edward drove right past their  
building and felt the hot little tongue of his boyfriend tease the head of his c*ck, dipping into the slit  
and his mouth closing around the head.

Louis thoroughly enjoyed the taste of either twin in his mouth, the weight of them on his tongue. He  
hasn't labelled himself as anything but many a time has one or both of them called him a slut. All he  
did was not deny it.

Without considering the whiplash effect he has on Edward, Louis supported his weight with one  
elbow and got comfortable on his knees. He took in as much of the man as he could, swallowing  
around a few inches with obscenely loud noises before forcing himself to go down lower.

Edward's hand fisted his hair and his body stiffened with the life racing through him. Louis popped  
off the swollen tip and let a string of saliva drip out of his mouth and onto it. He secured the wide  
girth of the base whilst running his tongue along the hard, hot flesh. His lips sometimes connected  
with the foreskin and sinfully kitten licked it, teeth nipping at the spots he knew drove Edward up a  
wall.

He choked on the next intake, gagging when Edward got down his throat and his muscles struggled  
to accommodate him. He twirled his tongue around the base he could reach and bobbed his head  
vigorously, lapping at the taste of his adoringly dominant boyfriend. His lips became numb by how  
quickly he pumped them up and down Edward's c*ck, greedy for the taste and feel of it.

The veins throbbed against the inside of his cheek and Louis dug the tip of his tongue into the entire  
path it travelled, earning the loudest moan he's ever heard from Edward. He got frustrated with  
working in such small spaces and yanked on Edward's pants until they shifted enough for him.  
Edward had other plans by the time Louis cupped his balls and rolled them between his fingers, his  
bravery evident by the way he eagerly worked up and down the man's length with his mouth.

"Fuck- _Yeah_, petal." Edward secured Louis' head in the position he most favoured and took  
advantage of the red light they stopped at to buck his hips up and fuck into Louis' mouth with  
prowess.

He didn't care how rough he was being or how much louder Louis' gagging noises were becoming.  
He thrusted into the perfect wet heat that engulfed his c*ck with all his might and grunted with each  
forceful movement. Louis' eyes teared up and burned but the pleasure of pleasing his lover was  
greater, more overwhelming.

The time came for Edward to release Louis and shudder once through the noises of Louis suckling,  
pulling off on the side of the road to yank Louis off him and push his seat back. Before the time  
came to think, he had dragged Louis onto his lap and organised him in the proper position himself.

Louis looked like the personified sin of every devoted pilgrim, for it will take a great deal to waver  
their dedication. He sat on Edward's lap with the reddest lips and with watery eyes, thin fingers  
working to unbutton the man's shirt. His lips were working marks into Edward's neck and chest,  
marking up the milky white skin with red bites as it was exposed.

The windows fogged up with their hot breath, Edward cupping and prying free the voluptuous curve  
of Louis' bum. Louis' tongue flicked over Edward's nipple and the man hissed at the sensations it  
drove up his spine, sharp teeth cutting his own lip as he kept it all in.

"Edward." Louis had his cool fingertips trailing down Edward's bare torso, lips quivering as their  
eyes met over an intense platform. "Take me. I want you."

"I will, petal." Edward got Louis' pants stripped and with some manoeuvring, tossed the clothing in  
the back. He hastily pried Louis' warm thighs apart and spat on his fingers.

He looked so ravenous, so _desperate_ when Louis' eyes connected with his again. The green  
had cross-bred with black and was now a muddled darkness. Edward steeled his arm around Louis  
and left red hand prints on the boy's ass by slapping the firm flesh thrice. He sank his teeth into  
Louis' neck and pushed two fingers into the boy.

"Fuck- So tight, baby." Edward moved his hand hurriedly, scissoring his fingers and gulping down  
Louis' whimpers as his body stretched open. "Like this, baby? Like Daddy's fingers inside you?"

Louis got three appendages buried in him to the knuckle, the tips prodding at his prostate. His  
breath became choppy and his mind turned mellow. "L-Love it. Want your c*ck, Daddy. Pl-Please  
give me your c*ck."

Edward's free hand slid around the column of Louis' throat and he squeezed just enough to make the  
boy's skin turn bright red. He felt Louis' Adam's Apple struggle to allow him breaths, let him  
swallow at will. His chest released a deep groan and he lurched forward to cease his lover's body by  
the strength of his teeth, letting them latch onto his throat again.

He parted Louis' knees further and brought his beautiful body closer, letting the boy hover over his  
pulsating erection. Louis slowly lowered himself until a long moan leaving his swollen lips as  
Edward settled inside him, taking up all the space and filling him up.

"Better, baby?" Edward whispered into the boy's neck. He was breathing raggedly from having such  
clenching heat tighten around him.

"Y-Yeah, Daddy." Louis panted brokenly to the air above their heads, tossing his head back and  
starting to furiously ride Edward to get them both off.

He pushed the man back and lowered his seat as far down as it will go, his nails digging into  
Edward's pectorals to have purchase somewhere. His sounds were beautiful and chopped, the tasty  
treat of his physique bouncing hungrily on Edward's c*ck. The man watched in admiration and held  
onto Louis' meaty hips, slapping the skin to watch it jiggle and turn pink.

Louis pushed his own damp hair back by raking his fingers through it, shaking the entire vehicle  
with how earnest his thrusts were. His body slammed into Edward's as he tightened around the  
man's length and pulled off almost all the way. His walls bruised and the lack of lube made him  
ache down between his throbbing thighs, but he fisted Edward's hair and screamed as he arched his  
back.

He may have asked for it but Louis always got his body split open in two tormented halves when  
Edward plunged into undeniable warmth of the space between his legs. As rarely as he got to  
actually think back to the time when Edward _promised_ him that he'd claim that exact space.  
Those memories always made him feel hotter, more inhibited by the over-active _want_ for  
this man who delivered on that vow months ago. He pressed his nails into Edward's scalp and  
dragged them down to the man's nape, leaving red lines deep into the skin.

Edward stilled Louis' motions and thrusted up into him when the boy became tired, his orgasm  
within reach. He gripped the boy's hips so viciously that they bruised, his fingers leaving red and  
purple marks behind. He rocked the car with how urgently he needed to sheath himself in Louis'  
body and licked the sweat off Louis' clavicle.

His body began to tremble and spasm with his impending orgasm. He grunted with each thrust and  
it matched Louis' whimper, each pounding thrust colliding with the boy's prostate _hard_ and  
the hurt barely registering. Louis wrapped his arms around Edward's neck and came across their  
stomachs with no more than a shout and tears rolling down his face.

Edward still draped an arm across Louis' back from hip to shoulder, causing a perfect C-curve in the  
bone's spine as his hips jolted sporadically. Louis' hands were lifeless at the sides of Edward's neck,  
fingers curled up and face hidden. He was just the vessel Edward used to get of, with a thousand  
and one more kisses finding their place on his shoulders or arms.

With one last brutal shove that made Louis choke and whimper, Edward's hard hips slammed  
mercilessly into Louis' and came. He had his head thrown almost all the way back and Louis'  
breathless form perched on his lap, still shuddering through his orgasm.

"Petal." Edward swallowed and tried to regulate his breathing once again. "Baby, you are so perfect  
for me."

Louis giggled into his ear and stretched as much as he could in this cramped SUV, Edward watching  
him in reverence and worship. All pink skin and breathy noises. His petal was always so graceful,  
save for his brief clumsy moments. He thumbed over where Louis' perky nipples were showing  
through his shirt, kissing the fabric right after.

"I love you." Edward whispered to him, in secret and in promise.

"I love you too." Louis paused to kiss the bridge of Edward's nose. "Can we get McDonalds?"

  
* * * * *  


"Petal, are you ready yet?" Harry stood outside their en-suite bathroom with his knuckles on the  
door, waiting for some sound to come from inside the room.  
"Almost!" Came the boy's reply, shouted from within.

They were going out together for the first time in six solid, dreary months of being cooped up in this  
apartment. It was always either Edward or Harry went out for groceries while the other stayed  
indoors with Louis doing nothing but draining their kitchen of food sources.

It's been a hard six months for everyone who walked out of the Madhouse with a new life to look  
forward to. Nobody suspected the adjustment would be so difficult, and take up so much time. No  
one heard from Anne or Dexter, nobody brought them up.

Niall had moved to Seattle as well with Liam and Zayn getting transfers from their precincts to  
work here as higher ranking detectives. Today, they were all going to meet up for a long, tiring day  
at a theme park because of a late night conversation between Niall and Louis the previous night.

_"Do you think they'll be mad?" Louis hid beneath the warm covers with his empty mug of hot  
chocolate, smiling enthusiastically at this idea._

_"They'll be pissed for the first two minutes." Niall sighed, all but mirroring Louis' position in his  
flat two streets away._

_"I like theme parks." Louis picked at the painting of a reindeer on his mug. "This will be good  
for us."_

_"For a therapist, that took you way too long to figure out." Niall teased him, same as old  
times._

_Louis giggled and set his mug down between his thighs where it wouldn't get knocked over. "I  
just wrote my finals, Niall. I don't know whether I passed or not."_

_"Oh please. You know you came out top of the class."_

_"I didn't study, Ni. I could have failed." Louis replied, speaking the honest truth._

_"Were the questions difficult?" Niall didn't want to say it, but they were both thinking it._

_"Easiest ones ever." And they were only easy because no other student in that examination hall  
had the same experiences that he did. No amount of studying from a textbook or module can  
prepare a person for the real world that Louis faced._

Their plans for the their trip to the theme park was soon finalised between the six of them.  
Shockingly, Harry was the easiest to convince and Liam was the hardest. Edward seemed to require  
Louis climbing onto his lap and pouting to have his decision altered from negative to positive.

Louis stepped out of the bathroom in attire suitable for Seattle's constantly dull weather conditions.  
He had on a navy sweater that hung just below his posterior, comfortable black jeans without front  
pockets and plain black Vans below all that. His hair was set in a feathery mess that was the perfect   
medium between unruly and styled, a fringe sweeping across his forehead to accentuate the  
boldness of his blue eyes.

"Don't you look ravishing, petal." Harry caught his boy by the hips and smirked at the healthy blush  
creeping onto Louis' cheeks. He bent down at an angle and kissed Louis' neck, soft but still audible  
smacking noises coming of it. "I may just keep you here, locked up for myself."

"Daddy." Louis fussed, gasping when his bum was groped by two large paws. His smaller hands  
settled on Harry's chest and he reached up eagerly to connect their lips. "I want to go."

"You're never going anywhere, petal." Harry never felt ashamed to slip his hands under the  
waistband of Louis' jeans, a deep growl setting fire to Louis' skin when he felt lace and not  
elasticated cotton. "What's _this_ then, petal?"

"All for you, Daddy."

Louis slid his palms across Harry's arms to his shoulders, their faces so close together that the finest  
hairs rooted to their skin brushed past each other in a sweet rhythm. Harry kneaded Louis' bum with  
both firm hands, probably causing bruises on the baby soft skin. His devious little smirk that teased  
the corners of his mouth was enough to make Louis giggle and attempt hiding from the man's  
forward ministrations.

"Better be, darlin'." Harry nudged Louis' head to the side and turned to gnaw on the skin of his  
neck. "Maybe I can have a taste now."

"Oh n- _Hmph-_ Daddy, we gotta _go_." Louis huffed and tried to push Harry away but  
he truly enjoyed when he was cornered and ordered into submission.

Harry proved a point by removing his hands from Louis' pants and spanking him with both palms in  
a suggestive encouragement. Louis' body took the shock with a gasp and jerk forward, eyes peeled  
open as they peer up innocently into Harry's more powerful ones.

"Kiss me?" Louis murmured like he was asking this of a man he wasn't allowed to ask anything of,  
a tiny glimmer in his eye as he bit his bottom lip and inched a little closer to the older male's lips.

With the deterioration of his smirk, a fond smile returns to Harry's features and he exposes one  
dimple when he cups the side of Louis' face. "Do you ever have to ask that of me, petal?"

Louis grinned like the playful minx of Harry's dream and the man's lips crashed down on his. He  
moaned and knotted his fingers in Harry's hair, messing it up from it's carefully set state. Harry  
opens his mouth and let's Louis' tongue in to taste the confines of it, the edges getting a bit wet with  
how sloppy they always are. He hauls Louis off his feet and digs his thumbs into Louis' sensitive  
spot between thigh and pelvis.

Feeling himself become too aroused for moments before they depart to meet their friends, Louis  
bites Harry's lip and withdraws first. It doesn't take a genius to be able to tell what they were doing,  
Louis wiping the taut skin between his lips' corners with his thumb and Harry deviously licking up  
the remnants of taste from his.

"You are dangerously tempting, petal." Harry tapped Louis' lips with his finger.

Louis smiles along with the heat creeping up onto his face. "One day I won't be so."

With a scoff, Harry flexed his jaw as if chewing spearmint gum. Louis tucks himself under Harry's  
arm when they withdrew from the wall and turned to leave the room. His fingers slotted into the  
gaps between Harry's where the man's arm was around his shoulders.

"Will you-" Louis walked out into the open-plan foyer. "-go on the rides with Niall and I?"

"If you so wish that for me, petal." Harry chuckled and met Edward's eye over the kitchen island.

"Really?" Louis would never have thought that Harry could be willing to go on  
_rollercoasters_ with him. He's going to take absolute advantage of this.

"Yes." Harry watched Edward grab his keys, wallet and phone.

"Edward?" Louis called to the man who had just found his jacket. It was the perfect kind of weather  
outside with just enough clouds and the right amount of sunshine.

"Petal?" Edward grabbed a water bottle off the counter before Louis swiped it from him.

"Will you go on the rides with me?" Louis took a brownie cookie from the hideous cat jar.

Edward frowned at the question. "Certainly not."

"But Harry said he'll go." Louis' arm snakes its way around Harry's waist.

"Harry is my brother, petal, while I am only myself." Edward flashes him a smirk and steps out into  
the hallway.

Other tenants are walking to their homes after a late night out while others are just going out for  
work or a jog. It's a bright Saturday and Louis has it in him to smile at a few of those people. Harry  
walked with him like a fitted counterpart to his body throughout the elevator ride and out into the  
open space for parking.

Edward programmes the GPS to take them where they want to go and Louis dials Niall's number.  
He has Edward's phone and rolls down the window to let the cool breeze into the back-seat.

"Hey, Lou?" Niall answers with. "We're almost there."

"Good because so are we." Louis uncovers a pair of sunglasses in the pouch behind Harry's seat and  
slips them on so he can keep his eyes open. "We didn't have any Aspirin. Do you?"

"Yeah. Zayn is carrying a backpack for no reason so it's in there." Niall seems to be hinting  
something to the man who must be present near him.

"Great. Thanks. I'll see you there."

"Yup. Laters."

He hangs up and Louis looks at the short and skyscraper buildings as they whizz past, feeling  
himself smile at the muted track of Coldplay's last album playing on their radio. His hair blows into  
his face multiple times but there's nothing more to do other than let it tickle his skin along with the  
wind that navigated them.

Listening to _Adventure of a Lifetime_ got them to the outskirts of this hectic urban area  
where the theme park was. If he wasn't mistaken, he caught Harry enjoying the music as much as he  
was by small bobbing motions of his head. Louis giggled but it was drowned out by the heavy  
wind, and mouthed the lyrics after Chris Martin until the Rover switched off which meant he had to  
jump off.

"I should have worn shorts." Louis blows his fringe out of his eyes and feels Edward slot himself in  
beside him.

"I would have objected." The man bent and kissed his neck, dropping his arm around Louis'  
shoulders.

Harry took the car keys and housed them in his pocket, holding Louis' available left hand. The  
queue outside the theme park is not long at all, as shocking as it was. They could walk at their own  
pace past the booking stations and lines of empty parking to join the thirty or so people at the closed  
gate.

"What's opening time?" Harry asked, raising his eyebrow at Louis' sunglasses choice.

"Nine thirty but-" Edward glances at the little red tickets with numbers they all got by the woman at  
the main entrance. "-I think these give us some sort of early access."

"Yeah." Louis eyed the radio station set up by the booking stations, red tents with a panel of hosts  
stationed around it. "It's a kind of promotion."

Harry was the one to spot Niall arriving first and alerted Louis after giving him a quick kiss. Louis  
hadn't been surprised or puzzled by the act - it wasn't his first day - and welcomed Niall into their  
spot without minding the people behind them they'd be cheating.

Louis poked Edward in the arm when he saw that Niall got to wear shorts. The man merely  
chuckled and gave his waist a squeeze, Louis distracted by chatter with his best friend. Niall's scars  
have healed very well over the time it was allotted to do so. The thin streaks were only visible if one  
looked hard enough by already knowing they were there, or brushing his hair further to the side.

Even Liam and Zayn weren't stoic and aggressive around Edward or Harry anymore. They shook  
hands six months ago and since then it's upgraded to those awful shoulder hugs. Louis and Niall  
hate them so stick to small waves and real hugs. However, all six members of their party are happy  
to have today as a real memory after such tragedy. It would do them all some good in varying ways.

The gates opened after a security guard announced that they were, warning the boys not to scream  
louder than the girls or they'd be kicked out. Niall had laughed the loudest.


	48. Chapter Forty-Eight

***NARRATOR'S POV***

"I'm not going on that and you can't make- Harry, let me _go_!" Louis cries out when he's  
grabbed by two proactive arms and lifted into the air, his stomach clenching when he's carried  
towards the small line of people outside the theme park's most famous rollercoaster.

After just making it past the ticket collection tent, the steel dividing gates being of a decent enough  
height for Niall to balance himself on as he skipped most lanes, they got to go in with wrist bands.  
Louis wanted to go on a six out of ten first but of course everyone here objected to that, hence  
leading to his current dilemma in this nine out of ten ride's queue.

Edward was the only one not being pressured into going on anything, as he remained casually  
amused at Louis resisting his brother futilely. He kept all their phones and other valuables.

"Are you ready to go willingly now, petal?" Harry tightened the cradle of his arms around Louis so  
the boy squirmed and huffed.

"Okay." Louis consented, voice soft and feet finally touching the ground. "I'm still scared."

"There's no need to be, petal." Harry walks behind Louis across the arched bridge over a narrow  
river towards their destination.

Not many people were actively moving around in the theme park at the moment, but the special  
hosted by the radio station allowed them a full hour of being inside ahead of the general public. It  
was open to the five hundred people who got there before eight in the morning.

"There's every reason to be." Niall unhelpfully commented from beside the boy, being led by Liam  
holding tightly onto his hand.

Louis grumbled and swatted Niall's arm. He felt like his stomach was already plummeting to the  
depths of the planet's core and really didn't want to die on a rollercoaster. They arrived at the makeshift cave that let them into the ride's enclosure.  
Just before they got onto the ride that was basically a green worm with a dozen seats, two in each  
row. Louis had to take off his shoes and sunglasses, handing them both to Edward. The man winked  
at him and when Louis pouted, gave him three kisses on those puckered lips.

"Don't be afraid, petal." Edward patted his hip when no one was close enough by to see. "You'll be  
coming back to me immediately after."

"And I'll either be crying or laughing." Louis shakes off the last of his nerves. "Prepare yourself for  
that fiesta."

Edward laughs and shakes his head fondly before backing up with all their belongings to stand  
against the guard railing. He'd have the perfect view of the entire ride as well as the experience of  
the ride zipping past above his head at some point. 

He is later joined by Zayn, who also refused to go any life threatening thrill rides. Edward takes a  
sip of iced water and watches Louis a distance away asking the conductor many questions before  
actually getting into the seat designated for him next to Harry.

"Harry?" Louis feels snug between the seat and protective addition covering his entire front, his  
clammy hands twisted around the bars on either side of his head.

"Yes, petal?" Harry's feet touched the ground while Louis' didn't and that was also enough to make  
the boy's insides twist in anxiety.

"I'm breaking up with you."

Harry cackled and the ride started to move, revealing the height they'd have to go up in order to  
develop the right amount of momentum. Their legs dangled off their seats and Niall didn't sound  
affected at all by a possible death.

"After this-" Harry took his eyes off the ascending track to look at Louis. "-I'll have to change your  
mind."

The rollercoaster was horrific all the way through the first dip when they twisted at terrifying angles  
before being thrust into the air, flung around in loops and a mountain. Louis became numb to the  
fear halfway through and found himself screaming from something other than it by then.

Afterwards he was a little dizzy and Niall had steadied him with both hands on his shoulders.  
Thankfully they all hadn't eaten anything for breakfast so no one felt like bringing up any food.  
Louis had a little laugh at Harry's hair that had become a curly mess atop his head. He got up on his  
tiptoes after putting his shoes back on, and tried to tame the edges at least. Harry nipped at the  
protruding bones at his wrists and grinned when Louis stuck his tongue out at him.

Louis was a little ball of energetic sunshine after taking on the most frightening attraction the park  
had.

"I want to go on that." He pointed to something train orientated and since Niall agreed, everyone  
had to.

The path was nearly a mile long to get there and Louis was glued to Harry's side the whole way,  
whether his motives were to be overly affectionate or just giddy wasn't clear. Edward has his finger  
curled through Louis' belt loops and followed behind them a lot more aware of everything than  
them.

While Louis laughed with Niall or got squashed by Harry's possessive arm, Edward found himself  
unconsciously scanning each new environment they were in. They haven't been out for this long in  
a place where there had to be so many people, and it unnerved him.

There was no threat. He was absolutely certain that there wasn't but it still nagged him that there  
_could be_. His nerves were only soothed by the calm presence that Louis when the boy  
noticed his uneasiness and pulled him aside under the shade of a dying tree.

"What's wrong?" Louis kept a little space between them, knowing that it wouldn't last long. 

Edward didn't look anymore unkempt or dishevelled than he usually was, but the look in his eye  
said a million different _troubled_ things to Louis. Each green speck took on a story, a worry  
that it wanted to share with the boy whilst protecting him from it at the same time.

"I feel strange." Edward stopped looking at every moving object to cage Louis' waist in his arms  
and rest his forehead on the boy's. "Something feels wrong, petal."

"What kind of wrong?" Louis ignored the couples of eyes that landed on them when others walked  
past, some envious and others hateful.

"I'm not sure." Edward grimaced and cleared his throat. "That seems to be the worst part as I don't  
know, petal."

Louis' hip was destined to hit the wooden posts when a passer-by bumped him but Edward's hand  
covered that area and his knuckles took the blow.

"Hey." The boy brought his hands up to Edward's neck, thumbs grazing repeatedly over the man's  
earlobes. "I know what you're feeling and I hate it too. It's our first time out."

"Yes and I feel like this is a dream." Edward tries to convince him, speaking earnestly with a raspy  
voice. "This is not a dream, petal, and that's what scares me most."

"Nothing is wrong, Edward." Louis assured him. He's the most paranoid out of them all and if  
something was _strange_, he would know first. "I promise."

Edward nodded and let go of the burden making his shoulders hunch, his mind worry. Louis could  
tell him anything and he'd take it as the truth. "I believe you, petal."

"Good."

Louis smiled his broken smile, the one that came to life but didn't light up his eyes because those  
eyes were too marred with his history of events. It was the twins' favourite smile on him because it  
was the most honest, most genuine one.

"Come now." Louis takes Edward's hand and tugs. "You're going on this one with me."

Edward had no choice in the matter from that moment which Louis spent informing Harry. He got  
onto the ride with them and sat through the whole thing, unaffected. Louis was laughing so freely  
and so hypnotically that Edward listened to that when they were tipped over, watching his sweet  
lover when they came to a stop.

"How did that feel?" Louis asks him after releasing the seatbelts that binded them to the cushioned  
seats.

"Boring, petal." Edward incredulously responded, following Louis down the short path to the  
booths with teddy bears.

Louis looks over his shoulder to roll his eyes at the man, getting a laugh out of him as well. They  
venture past the stands with ridiculous foods and even worse prizes for primitive games, onto a  
water ride that stuck you on a floating raft down a path with the worst currents.

Zayn was forced to go on this one as it was ideally a child's ride and everyone got a seat around a  
steel circular bar they're supposed to hold onto. The seats were too small for Harry to entertain the  
notion of keeping Louis on his lap, and Liam was just as disappointed with his similar idea.

"How do you think it works?" Louis looks over the edge at the heavy rubber doughnut surrounding  
the base of the raft.

"Magnets, I believe." Zayn replies to him, having been the only one to read the safety board.

"That would make sense." Niall nods, jerking to the side when they collide with an incoming raft.

"Petal." Edward called to the boy who had two limbs out of the structure. "Back in now, baby."

"Sorry." Louis brought his entire body back in after Edward's instruction, returning to his seat  
between a step and Harry. "Can we go now?"

"Hi." Niall called an attendant away from his post at the exit gate. "Is something wrong? Why aren't  
we moving?"

Everyone sniggered at his courage and Louis high-fived him once the employee had disappeared  
into the control booth. They were most probably going to drown because of voicing their irritation.  
The raft got shoved out of the mini harbour where they all docked and was thrown into a wild  
current that had them colliding with heavy duty water pumps at the first call. Louis was the first to  
get wet, dripping water down his arm and pants after a wave crashed onto his side.

"Okay?" Niall asked him, dry as a leaf and mocking him as they were tossed around some more.

"Fine." Louis looked at Harry and leaned into his side, the water calming to something manageable.

"Stand up." Liam suddenly said to Niall, who looked horrified at the idea.

"Nah uh." Niall shook his head and even wriggled away from the man.

"I'll stand up." Louis volunteered. There were no bridges or other chances to hit his head available  
so there couldn't be much harm. He was once again doused in gushing water as their raft was jostled  
to the opposite end of the path. "Oh come one."

"I'll stand if you do." Niall tells him, somehow bringing back memories of their university days.

"Okay."

Louis checked that the coast was clear and saw a decent bend coming up, getting to his feet and  
stepping between Harry's knees. The fit was a tight squeeze for space but Niall managed to get  
between Liam's knees as well and that was all the safety they needed.

Harry braced both hands on Louis' hips and Liam put his on Niall's. The two best friends were  
facing each other with both hands still on the steel bar, laughing like a couple of loons when the raft  
jolted and they tripped on their own feet.

Their balance was reduced to being completely lopsided whenever a wave hit or they banged into a  
wall, but Harry paid all his attention to Louis to make sure the boy was alright. This was heavily  
against the rules but even Zayn didn't object.

"Petal-" Edward grew too concerned to keep quiet about it.

"I'm okay." Louis promises, tightening his hands on the bar and spotting a cave that they're about to  
go into. "Cave."

Niall turns his head and sees it too. "We've got time."

"How are you feeling?" Louis had to shout to his friend, laughing uncontrollably when a fresh  
attack of water leaped over the edge of their raft.

"Peachy!" Niall yelled back, trying to make it sarcastic but failing.

They almost forgot about the cave but Harry pulled Louis down in time to protect him from any  
injury. Niall fell onto Liam's lap and greeted him with a kiss in the dark.

"Hello." Louis couldn't see Harry's face with how pitch black it was but the rhythm of a beating  
heart under his palm was good enough.

"My daring sweet petal." Harry kissed Louis' neck, tasting salt water on the boy's skin. "You are my  
very wet petal too."

That ride was a complete success after they were nearly caught disobeying raft regulations by  
standing and had to run out through the exit faster than any of them thought possible. Edward had  
Louis by his hip when he stopped to pay for the photos that were secretly taken of them during the  
ride.

"That was fun." Louis declared, making his way over an animated map that showed all the rides  
with their locations.

"It was." Niall agrees, studying the map over Louis' shoulder while his arm hung off his friend's  
shoulders. "Tower of Terror?"

"Absolutely not. All they do is drop you from all the way up there." Louis shakes his head and picks  
another. "We've done most of them. Let's get something to eat?"

"Yeah I like the sound of that."

They make their way past a few more entertainment stalls and into the town's square where all the  
food joints were. Edward, Harry and Louis go straight to the kiosk for drinks and a tray of  
doughnuts while Liam, Zayn and Niall visit the restaurant that served light enough meals.

Louis spotted an available benched table under a black umbrella and ran to it before anyone else  
could. Harry set their doughnuts down and put his hand on Louis' thigh after sitting, Edward on the  
other side of the boy with the drinks. Louis took the largest bottle of water and drank a large gulp  
that hurt his throat, an inexplicable thirst burning in his gut.

"Those are hot, Harry." Louis warns the man who stuck a freshly deep fried doughnut in his mouth.

Harry was impassive even with the hot treat in his mouth. He chewed and swallowed without a care  
for it, Louis pouting and tapping his lips with the nozzle of the water bottle to help him along even  
if it did burn. The man took a sip and kissed Louis with syrupy lips.

"They're okay now." Edward announces, smirking when Louis doesn't let himself be fed.

The other half of their party rejoins them with three bags of food that gets opened and split evenly.

"Bathroom?" Louis suggests to Niall, wanting to wash his hands before touching any food with his  
hands.

"Yeah. Let's go." Niall leaves the food on the table and Edward wakes up without being asked to  
accompany them.

At the sinks they have to wait for Niall to finish using the toilet so Harry leans against a wall and  
Louis rests back against him, both of them watching their reflections in the brightly illuminated  
mirrors. Harry kisses Louis' neck slowly, lovingly with soft presses of his lips and grazes of his  
teeth.

"What say you about the Golden Loop? I hear it's scarier than the one we went on." Louis puts his  
hands over Harry's, closing his eyes and smiling in content.

Harry mumbles his response behind Louis' ear. "I say that I'll follow you anywhere, petal."

After washing up, the trio return to the table and find who they left behind already eating. Upon  
asking about their personal hygiene, Zayn shows Niall a bottle of water and hand sanitiser. Louis  
nods, impressed.

Louis and Niall get the packet of jumbo chips and all their chicken wraps are identical. Edward  
doesn't miss how Zayn waits to see the result of his bite into the wrap with sharper teeth than  
ordinary to start eating. He doesn't feel odd about the jagged edges left on the pita.

"I want mustard." Louis is arguing with Niall, the latter not wanting mustard anywhere near his  
fries.

"You can't put mustard on the chips, Lou." Niall holds hostage all the sauce packets.

"But-" Louis fails in trying to grab them for himself.

"Give him the mustard, Duckling." Liam insists and Niall relents with a tiny pout, Louis beaming  
when he gets the packets.

"Not on all of them." Niall warns him, dead serious as he always is about matters concerning food.

"Yes." Louis salutes him and squeezes some mustard onto the container of his food so it doesn't  
bother the rest of the chips. "I'm going to have to walk this off."

"Definitely." Niall pats his tummy. "We can walk to the ferris wheel."

"It's not that far though." Louis looks around them and watches all the strangers with their friends,  
families enjoying a day in the sun. "We can play chess. There's a giant chess board on the other side  
of that theatre."

"I'm game for chess." Niall agrees. "We can play in teams."

"I'm with Edward." Louis claims the silent person at the table, who frowns at him as if returning  
from an outer body experience. "Edward is the best chess player I know."

"The three of us then." Niall grins, satisfied to already be on the winning team.

A crowd gathers in the center of the square where the Christmas tree goes up in December, and a  
few mascots in various animals come along with music. It's not kiddies' music either and people  
aren't so embarrassed to join in the little dance party. Louis takes Edward's phone from the man's  
pocket to film all of it.

"Let's go." Niall says after the crowd disperses and they're free to get up without being pointed out  
to join the dancing.

"This is the most excited I've seen you for chess, Ni." Louis says teasingly, waiting to put his water  
bottle in Zayn's backpack.

"You know I don't plan to do anything more than accept the victory, yes?"

"Of course I know that."

Edward takes Louis' hand and walks beside him on their way to the chessboard that's closed off in a  
knight's quarters. They pay an attendant and go in for however long they wish, right beside a  
miniature bungy jumping section.

Louis and Niall sit throughout the whole game or sometimes walk around the board just when they  
got restless. The chess pieces were up to Edward's waist and the man moved them however he  
pleased in the dimly lit atmosphere against the three minds in the opposition team.

"I knew this would be a good idea." Niall says on their third circuit around the lively chessboard.  
"Thank you for suggesting it."

"You agreed, Ni. That victory is on you." Louis points out humbly.

"Yeah but you knew we all needed to get out of that rut." Niall insists, needing to get this out before  
the words got jumbled up and he couldn't any longer. "All of us."

Louis smiled at him through the red lighting and looked down at his shoes. He appreciated whatever  
late night impulse made him pick up the phone to call Niall so this day could be arranged. It was  
something they all needed.

A loud siren cut them off from their conversation and the alarm that thumped in their chests was  
soon settled by the small reminder of their board game. Edward had won after an hour and a half of  
playing, which got his inactive team a medium sized trophy. Louis loved the trophy and gave  
Edward a kiss with it.

Edward caught him by his middle and deepened the kiss in front of a puppet dalmatian that covered  
its eyes. The kiss felt a chance to recharge and he suffered whilst trying to keep it PG. 

Edward pulled away only to breathe and whispered heatedly in Louis' ear. "I know what I'm going  
to make you do tonight."

Louis was pressed flush up against the man's hard chest and if it weren't for the red lights, he  
wouldn't have an excuse for the blush on his cheeks. His eyes got a little dark themselves as Louis  
bit his lip and tilted his head to the side when Edward dove in for another kiss.

"I'm going to be tired tonight." Louis pulls back and scratches Edward's biceps with harmless blunt  
nails. He pecked Edward's cheek. "My king of chess."

Edward laughed his notorious chuckle and let Louis ride piggyback as they exited the knight's  
quarters. "Who could have ever known being the king of chess would have you wanting to be in my  
bed?"

"Harry didn't win and I'll still go his bed." Louis said cheekily, earning a kiss from the man himself  
who walked beside them.

"Because his bed and mine are the same, petal."

"So technical, Daddy." Louis bites Edward's earlobe.

Edward tightened his grip on Louis' thighs, always so appreciative of how plump his petal has  
become in the past half year. Louis pushes himself up a little and spots a ride he'd like to go on. It's  
been nearly two hours of resting and resting is not what they came to a theme park with thrill rides  
for.

"Niall!" Louis calls to his friend and points to the oyster shells that aren't far away.

"The oysters look harmless." Liam remarked from where he walked alongside Zayn, whose Niall  
had jumped onto.

"They are harmless." Niall adds. "Let's go."

All six of them them walked - minus the two putting more weight on two others - up the sheltered  
pathway to the magnetic gate that allowed them onto the platform. Uncanny as it was, only two  
shells were left available as other friends and couples had taken the others. Louis chooses the white  
and red one before Niall can and they end up with their shells beside each other anyway.

"This is a tight fit." Harry comments, arm over the back of Louis' seat and stopping at Edward's  
shoulder.

Louis liked it and he knew this ride was harmless enough that he didn't need to hold onto the steel  
bar keeping them in place. "It's a couple thing, I think."

Edward is intrigued by this assumption as a beep goes off and they start to spin. "How so?"

"Well-" Louis survives the first spin that swings them on their axis as the platform rotates on uneven  
ground. "-if you're scared, your partner will comfort you."

"But this isn't scary." Harry frowns. 

"Yes because we aren't teenagers anymore." Louis smiles and hears Niall scream for him, his friend  
becoming a blurred image with the speed they're going at. "What?!"

"It's a-" Niall does something to either Liam or Zayn that makes him pause, their shell turning  
around to face Louis' for a second. "It's a pneumatic system!"

"I know!" Louis shouts back in laughter.

"I must say, petal." Harry says from beside him. "You two are the ideal people to take with if you're  
afraid of any rides."

Louis laughs and briefly shuts his eyes when the wind whips around his face. "Because we take the  
fun out of everything by dissecting the system it functions on?"

"Yes." Edward replies before Harry can, the broadest smile Louis' ever seen on his face taking over.

When they finally slow down, their shell doesn't stop spinning as it landed on a risen position. The  
gravity of their falls power the momentum needed to send them up again, the cycle repeated enough  
times to make Louis' head spin painfully.

"Make it stop." He hides his face in Harry's chest and squeezes his eyes shut, the dizziness  
overwhelming the thickening of his blood so it abuses the vessels that it travels through. "Ow.  
_Ow_."

"Relax." Harry covers the boy's eyes so his world darkens ideally. He kisses Louis' temple and  
Edward forces the bar back by lifting the lever at the front.

An employee at this particular ride has on padded gloves when she comes to stop the sickening  
rotating motion of their shell, Edward already haven gotten out. Harry didn't ask Louis if he was  
okay, just lifted him up and carried him off the platform.

"I'm fine." Louis waited for his head to settle before saying, back on stable ground and breathing in  
Harry's cologne that hasn't faded at a point really close to his pulse.

"What happened?" Niall got off and went to his friend first, pulling Louis' hands away from his  
face.

"That Aspirin would be good right now please." Louis says, lacking humour but still smiling  
weakly.

Edward pops the tab on one of the pills and feeds it to Louis with a few sips of water. Louis isn't  
dehydrated or really physically sick, just not too happy with the heaviness of his head. If the damn  
oyster had stopped spinning he wouldn't be like this.

Louis is in good shape after a minute and he is okay enough to walk with Niall on the thin concrete  
bricks separating tar from stone. Harry is walking with his brother behind the two friends, talking  
about something that Louis can't hear. They make it as far as the ferris wheel sign before hopping  
off.

"Hey." Niall nudges him when he realises that their partners are occupied with deep conversation  
between one another, a few paces back. "The ferris wheel is this way."

The path leading to the giant wheel is tucked in between two historically preserved homes that  
served as heritage sights. Louis knew that he was friend was insinuating that they run ahead and let  
the absent-minded foursome come slowly after, but this was their _first_ time associating with  
the outside world and he's not ready for that.

"I-I don't want to go anywhere without them, Ni." Louis admitted softly, biting his lip nervously.

"Yeah." Niall understood. Too many bad things have happened for them to disregard. He still  
wanted to run ahead though. "Okay hang on."

Louis scrunches up his nose in confusion as his best friend rounds the bend again so he's in sight of  
the slow-walking portion of their group. He gasps in horror as he hears Niall shout to them.

"Oye! Yeah we're going in here, okay? Bye!" Then he's back again and Louis bursts into laughter,  
taking Niall's hand anyway when it's offered and sprinting up the slithering path to the ferris wheel's  
entry.

In no time there's an arm strong as branded iron entrapping Louis' waist and yanking him  
backwards, a little off the ground so he squeals with laughter. It turns out to be Edward who caught  
up to him so quickly and Louis had him to thank for the quick jump in his heartbeat.

Louis' arms are trapped against his own sides where Edward pins them down, their bodies aligned  
and his lips wandering the bone that formed the lump of a protrusion just below his hairline. "Were  
you planning on getting away, petal?"

No one was close enough to hear him when Louis angled his head and nipped at Edward's jaw.  
"Never, Daddy."

Harry jogged up to them and circled his way around to the front of Louis, the pupils of his eyes  
dilated. He rests both hands on Louis' hips, thumbs rubbing back and forth. "We're going to be  
needing restraints for you, petal."

Louis does his famous eye roll and pecks Harry's bicep as it was all he could reach. "You could get  
me a leash."

Edward let Louis roam ahead of him in the queue as the next basket structure came around, his  
fingers caught up in the boy's belt loops. "I might have to."

Niall got them - Liam, Zayn and himself - through to the next 'balloon' while Louis had to hop onto  
the following on. He sat against the caged wall with Harry beside him and Edward across from him,  
his shoes on the edge of Edward's seat between his legs. The wheel took them up all the way to the  
top and Louis asked for Edward's phone again.

"It's windy up here." Louis says to no on in particular, accepting the offer when Harry wraps an arm  
over his shoulders.

Everything about the theme park could be seen from the highest point in the ferris wheel and Niall  
often communicated with Louis by whisper-shouting through the bars of the passenger-carrying  
components. To their right was the entire layout of the theme park and the factories beyond it, with  
the city coming up below the orange horizon. On their left was the casino under the same ownership  
as the park with yellow walls and a green roof worth running on.

"Can we go in there?" Louis asked, close to sticking his face between two cold bars.

"If you want to." Edward rubbed Louis' ankles, dainty and tanned without being brown.

"Hey, Niall?" Louis raised the volume of his voice a little to be heard by his friend over in the next  
basket.

"Yeah?" Niall called back. They didn't sound as barbaric as they thought they did no matter how  
many times Liam shook his head.

"Let's go there!" He pointed to the casino building where fancy cars were rolling in and out of the  
parking garage.

"Deal." Niall grinned nice and big. "First, we're going back on that water ride."

Both Edward and Harry admired their petal's spunk when he's like this, in public at a time when he's  
comfortable with being so. They watched him warm up to the energy that was suppressed inside  
him, admiring the healthy glow it gave him when he smiled or giggled.

"Petal?" Harry's lips found Louis' temple and his fingers drew indecipherable patterns on the boy's  
thigh.

"Hmm?" Louis cleared his throat. The amount of shouting he did today does not equal any other  
time in his life and his throat was starting to feel the punishment.

Edward knew what his brother was going to ask for it is what they were talking about earlier. Harry  
didn't look too shy about it either. "There is somewhere we'd like to take you tonight at midnight."

Louis raised his head with cautious eyes. "The cemetery?"

Harry laughed and shook his head, remembering the time that would inflict this memory. "No, petal.  
Somewhere much less formidable."

"Okay." Louis supposed it would be okay as long as it wasn't a graveyard full of dead souls with  
legacies or no histories alike.

"It's a convention slash premiere." Harry said slowly, which Louis found amusing. "A Star Wars  
convention slash premiere."

Louis sat up in his seat, biting his lip harder than ever with his eyes so wide they had to be sparkling  
with how surprised he was. Harry looked completely natural however, as did Edward.

"You want me to come with you to the new Star Wars movie at midnight?" Louis has to make sure  
he heard correctly.

Harry nods slowly, carefully as if Louis was going to implode with the question and knowledge.  
"Petal?"

"Of course I'll go." Louis was smiling so brightly it had to hurt his face. He was stunned and  
flattered at the same time, what little exhaustion developed here dying a sore death. "Are you two  
fans?"

"Yes." Harry didn't expect Louis to be so....._thrilled_ at being asked like it was his honour.

"That's exciting with the new movie coming out and everything." Louis became more restless by the  
second.

Edward tightened his hands around Louis' ankles and called on his attention. "You can't come if  
you're like this this, petal."

"Right. Sorry." Louis licked his bottom lip and tried to straighten his outward demeanour but his  
excitement was too great at learning that Harry and Edward were _Star Wars fans_ that he kept  
giving looks for the rest of the ride.

True to his word, Niall made Louis accompany him on the Raging River Rapids once more. This  
time was far more disastrous as just Liam and Harry went with them and they ended up circling the  
current twice because of a mix-up with the floating doughnuts.

By the end of it, Louis' teeth was chattering with clothing that was soaked down to his most inner  
layer. Niall was no different as they both sat by the sides with dips to enter the raft, which meant  
water flowed in and out freely the entire time. Their clothes were several shades darker and they  
both had an innumerable amount of goosebumps from their shivers.

"Oh petal." Harry took Edward's jacket once they were reunited with him and covered Louis'  
shoulders with it, rubbing his arms and kissing his forehead.

Louis leaned all his weight on the man and clenched his jaws to keep his teeth from rattling. The  
sun was still out so he was a step closer to drying and warming up with each step he took, except  
even his shoes were drenched. That meant he made effective squeaky noises along with Niall's  
sneakers as they crossed the road to the casino.

Edward and Liam had parked their cars in that lot and had to retrieve them before meeting everyone  
at the entrance of the casino by the revolving doors. Unfortunately for the couple of sodding wet  
pals, they had a long way to walk to get there first.

The casino was circular inside with a walkway around the grounds for actual gambling, bars and  
little restaurants available on that passageway. Niall still walked with Louis as if they didn't look  
like homeless people who just stepped out of the rain, stopping at a breakfast bar that was handling  
its lunch rush for hot beverages.

"What do you want, petal?" Harry was back behind Louis, rubbing soothing shapes on the boy's  
sides and spine.

"Anything hot." Louis replied, smiling when Harry's chin hooked on his head of hair.

"Tea?" Harry offered a suggestion while Louis read the menu with Niall. He knew Louis will object  
with his preference if he did so.

"Hot chocolate please." As he wished, Louis spoke his order and Harry laid down the cash to  
purchase it.

Niall was having a harder time as he wanted ice cream that Zayn refused to give him, even if he  
paid for it himself. "But, Zayn!"

"You're shivering, ducky." Zayn pointed out to him, not that it made a difference like the other three  
previous times he did it. "You can have ice cream when you're _not_ shivering."

"Liam would give me ice cream."

"No, he wouldn't." Zayn scratched the scruff of his five o'clock shadow and Louis blew across the  
foam on his hot chocolate.

Niall also knew that Liam would be even more against ice cream. He might even have thrown out  
the ice cream they have at home because he's so crazy. Louis kept his eyes down and smile  
oppressed by the rim of his paper mug, Harry accepting his tray of two matching coffee mixtures  
for Edward and himself.

The bickering stopped after Zayn bought Niall a difficult to pronounce French hot drink and took  
the first sip so that his tongue got burnt instead of Niall's. Louis feels very secure about his  
relationship with the twins when he observed the chaos that is Niall, Liam and Zayn under one roof.  
It was as mad as it was meant to be.

"So....-" Louis dragged out the syllable and Harry knew what was coming, offering Louis his most  
indifferent smile on their walk towards the revolving doors. "Are you and Edward going to wear  
costumes tonight?"

"Petal." Harry shook his head, pushing his hair back with his crooked fingers as it curtained the area  
around his face. "We are just going for the film itself."

Louis guffawed and spun around so he was walking backwards in front of Harry. "But you have to  
get in the mood at least, innit?"

"Not really, petal." Harry held Louis' hips a centimetre above his thighs and directed him around a  
passing bunch of businessmen.

Louis still didn't turn around even when Harry nudged him aside, away from a huge potted plant.  
"Wouldn't it be fun though?"

"I suppose." Harry saw that the ground was clear for Louis to continue his animated childish act and  
sipped his coffee. "Again, we are just going for the movie."

"Did you already book tickets?"

"Yes." Harry ushered Louis into a compartment of the revolving exit.

"What if I didn't want to go?" Louis asked coyly, drinking his hot chocolate as they stepped out into  
the afternoon air when the sky was navy blue.

Liam was already waiting so Niall hugged Louis and Zayn was reluctant but he got a hug too. After  
their warm farewells, Harry kissed Louis' neck instead of his lips and left coffee residue on his skin.

"We would not have gone then, petal." Harry answers his question from earlier, dumping his and  
Louis' cups in a nearby bin. 

His hair was greasy and his skin was sweaty, Louis' clothes smelt like that foul salt water and his  
shoes needed to thrown away. When Edward pulled up in front of them he was quick to climb into  
the back-seat and shut the door, warming his hands up by blowing into them.

"Hi." Louis put his chin on Edward's seat. It wasn't fair that he got to smell like the cologne he left  
the apartment with this morning.

"Hello." Edward turned his head as the car light went off after Harry shut his door and kissed Louis  
on his chocolatey lips. "You taste sweet."

"I had hot chocolate." Louis tells him, listening to the soft melody of Adele through their speakers.

Harry gave Edward his coffee and the latter brother took a sip immediately, driving with one hand  
again once they were on the highway headed home. Louis was yawning by the time the city's street  
lights come back into their regular rhythm with spaced intervals between them, closing his eyes and  
using Edward's jacket as a pillow on the seat.

"Petal?" Edward was the one to open Louis' door when they parked again closest to the elevator in  
their apartment complex. He bent down low and whispered in Louis' ear so he didn't scare him into  
livelihood. "Hey, petal. Wake up, baby."

Louis mumbles something incoherent and stretches his body out as far as it will go on both ends,  
Edward catching his hands to pick him up off the seat he didn't fill up. He locked the Rover with  
Louis wrapped around him, very much like a spider-monkey, and found Harry waiting for them in  
the elevator.

They were all so exhausted after today, and had a few hours to just zone out with a decent nap  
before the Star Wars premiere in a cinema complex ten minutes away. Louis made small noises in  
Edward's ear as he tried to stay asleep so he didn't have to walk on his own.

"We don't have any souvenirs of today." Harry said by the second floor as they passed it.

"You have those photos, don't you?" Edward sniffed and rested his weight against the back wall.

"Yeah." Harry checked his iPhone's battery life and tucked it away afterwards. "Where did you put  
those shirts for tonight?"

"In the only black box we packed." Edward tried not to jostle Louis in his arms as he stood up  
straight again. "Petal would have unpacked it."

Harry smiled when he remembered Louis' interested enquiries earlier. "He asked if we are wearing  
costumes tonight."

"Of course he did." Edward looked at Louis' peaceful form and discovered that he was actually  
asleep, soft snores and twitching fingers included. "He's energetic when he's tired."

The elevator doors slid open and they were open to the red carpet, golden walls of their corridor.  
Harry fished out the keys from Edward's jeans pocket because the man himself was incapable of it,  
not discreet at all when he smirked at Edward's scowl.


	49. Chapter Forty-Nine

**The elevator doors slid open and they were open to the red carpet, golden walls of their  
corridor. Harry fished out the keys from Edward's jeans pocket because the man himself was  
incapable of it, not discreet at all when he smirked at Edward's scowl.**

***NARRATOR'S POV***

"I suggest you don't start anything that you will be too tired to finish." Edward spoke with a proud  
little smirk teasing his lips as well as Harry's.

"I? What about you, Edward?" Harry inspected the bunch of keys for the correct one.

The door became insufferable when it didn't seem to cooperate with the key Harry had forced into  
it. It finally gave way after he switched to a different silver key. He flipped the light on and held the  
door open for Edward to walk through.

Just as they had left it, the apartment as remained until they came back. Spotless and smelling like  
the detergents of the cleaning crew that was due to work while they were out.

"I did not exploit myself today." Edward told him, his face hovering an inch away from Harry's. "I  
can go all night if I choose to."

Harry sucked in a sharp breath as his pupils narrowed and the green of his eyes became two portals  
with the promise of the finest forestry, bold and made to complement the groan he releases. Edward  
smirks at his brother's weak reaction and shoulders past him to get Louis into the bedroom.

"Petal?" Edward tried to coax Louis out of his sleep before he touched the mattress, as they all  
needed a thorough shower.

Louis hardly responded with more than a muted mumble and act of further snuggling into Edward's  
shirt.

"Wake up, sleepy petal." He whispered gently into the boy's ear. "Darlin', you need to take a  
shower."

Edward kept himself from tripping by leaning his side against the wall, his hands gripping Louis'  
thighs with such strength that they had to be causing bruises. His body was tired too, even if not as  
drained as Louis' and he couldn't keep up the carrying feat for very much more.

Louis' little yawn was cute as a button but Edward could not allow himself to be fooled. His petal  
can be very deceptive when he's lazy to move on his own. His overpowering cerulean eyes blinked  
awake and that resistance of his got milder, weaker. Louis' eyes were always so _bright_ when  
he was like this.

"Shower?" Louis looked over his shoulder to document just how far off the ground he was. "Yeah.  
Okay."

"Would you like me to put you down?" Edward asked during the process of completing the action,  
thereby giving Louis no choice but to stand on his own feet.

Louis yawned again before swaying on his feet got old and he rubbed away the exhaustion in his  
eyes with the balls of his palms. He was taken by the hand and led into the bathroom, pouting when  
the immensely bright light momentarily impaired his vision.

He found himself looking up at Edward where the man spun him around and began to undress him.  
"Hi."

Edward gave him a look of indignation, but smirked at his amusing petal and lifted the boy's shirt  
off his body. "Hello."

Louis waited for Edward to be right in front of him before grinning and giving his nearest feature -  
chin - a kiss. His spoiled jeans were unbuttoned and dragged down his legs, pulled off over his  
socks after Edward pried his Vans off.

"What's gotten into you now, petal?" Edward didn't sound half as exasperated as he set out to  
pretend on being.

"What?" Louis giggled, feeling extra high off his buzz from earlier. He has to stay away from hot  
chocolate if it'll make his lips as well as his nerves this sugary.

Bemused, Edward stayed on his knees and pulled off Louis' socks while he was down there. Louis  
wiggled the toes of his left foot against Edward's thigh and sniffled at his poor reflection in the  
mirror. Edward stood up and took Louis by the bum, cupping the boy's behind even when he's  
outraged enough to gasp so loudly.

"Oye." Louis doesn't do a damn thing to fight Edward off, bare down to his scandalous lace panties.

"Yes, petal?" Edward pulls his cheeks apart and swallows up Louis' uncomfortable whine, lips  
crashing into the boy's. "Yes, my fussy and confusing petal?"

Louis pokes Edward's neck with his forefinger and stretches up to kitten lick over the minor attack.  
"I love you, my simply-cannot-play-along Daddy."

Edward's scoff is hardly plausible when Louis slithers out of his arms with how petite he is and  
drops his panties without much care for where they landed. Purposeful and prying eyes followed the  
nude silhouette of his body, memorizing his feminine curves and tracking the planes of his thighs,  
back and arms.

"I do not know what I'm supposed to playing along with, petal." Edward calls out, a little helpless  
by the way his upper body follows after the boy while the lower half is stuck.

Louis giggles and switches the taps under the shower-head on, testing the icy water as it sprays out  
at him. "Doesn't matter now. I'm hungry."

"Hungry for?" Edward is suddenly behind him, crotch pressed indiscreetly to the curve of Louis'  
posterior.

"_Food_, Daddy." Louis rolls his eyes.

"Shower then-" Edward pecks his temple and steps back. "-and come out for your snack."

"Where are you going?" Louis has to ask when he notices Edward leaving him.

"To take care of something, petal." The man slides the bathroom door closed, frosted glass covering  
fraction by fraction of his face until both pulsating deep green eyes disappear behind it.

Edward exits the bathroom and is on his way out the bedroom door when he makes an involuntary  
spin on his heel. He goes into the closet instead and to the half of the closet that Harry and Louis  
shared. It originally started out with three equal portions and neat dividers but then Louis nabbed a  
few of Harry's shirts and now they're just a big mess.

He extracts a pair of sweatpants-turned-shorts that are Louis' favourite shade of black, and one of  
his younger brother's hockey shirts that their petal always found so comfortable. The irony lay in  
the thick fibres of the warm material that Louis never complained about. Next was a pair of  
underwear that was cotton and Louis' best choice for panties.

Setting them down on the bed in a spot where Louis could see them the second he walked out of the  
bathroom, Edward plugged his phone in to charge then left the room without any obligations  
haunting him.

Harry was just setting the kettle on the stand that would let it cool after a bout of water was sloshing  
inside for a boil. Edward found him like that, stirring his green tea just like he recently always did  
before going to bed. His brother was a damn tease when he found the energy to be.

"How is petal?" Harry kept his head bowed and hand controlling the whirlpool in the pit of his mug.

"Showering." Edward replied, Harry already sidled up next to him after a moment of standing  
against the kitchen island.

"On his own?"

"Yes. He isn't as tired anymore."

Harry was most overbearing when it came to novelty things about their relationship. He did  
everything he could with his petal, which included any showering opportunities. He set the spoon in  
the sink and took a sip of his beverage, never giving up his smirk from knowing Edward's eyes were  
on him permanently.

Edward was unforgivingly abrupt when he grabbed Harry's neck with a firm hand and risked the life  
of a tea mug when he yanked his forward for a deafening, silencing kiss. Harry was immediately  
pliant but also attentive, his hands around Edward's wrists and lips moving in trained  
synchronisation with Edward's.

His back was pressing into the counter and the muscles he'd exercised everyday for six months did  
little to soften the pain. He groaned and concentrated on the kiss, his mouth opening and Edward's  
tongue exploring its confines. Edward felt like the distance was too much even for minimal, and  
clasped Harry's cheek so his thumb dug into that artful bone structure.

Edward licked the palate of his mouth and breathed heavily into the air they both released, rubbing  
his tongue over Harry's in a fervent approach. Harry was void of oxygen and _had to breathe_  
but this was more important. 

"Don't break me." Harry heard himself say, mouth torn away from Edward's with a thumb pressing  
against the swollen pillows now that his brother's lips were at his neck.

"You'll _know_ when you're broken, Harry."

Edward chuckled and dug the pad of his thumb harder into Harry's mouth, breaking the barrier of  
his lips to have it wrapped up by the suction of the man's tongue. He hooked his fingers over  
Harry's shirt and pulled so suddenly that the other end of the neckline tore through the seam.  
Harry's skin was not like Louis', yet so perfect in his own way. Edward ran his the wet muscle of his  
tongue over Harry's pulse and tasted the remnants of vanilla with musk body gel. He nipped at the  
fine baby hairs on Harry's skin and got a thigh between Harry's legs.

Growling in a very in-human manner when two hands slid down the length of his back to land over  
his ass, pulling his whole form that much closer between Harry's legs.

Their bodies were sewn together in the dim lighting of the kitchen, Edward's back hunched like a  
formidable creature leeching on the vitality of something youthful. His jaw fell open and his teeth  
got snagged on the creases of Harry's skin as he traced his sharpened molars over it, leaving a red  
droplet behind to be remembered by.

Harry gasped to the skies with his head thrown back when Edward's chest rumbled with the hunger  
of lust, sinking his teeth into Harry's skin. It was stronger than Louis', firmer and more muscular to  
penetrate with his dagger teeth.

Louis' blood entered his mouth almost instantly as they coated the caps of his pointed weapons, but  
Harry hissed out of miserable pain and had to fight his human instinct to flee from harm. He finally  
gave in with a freshened groan, long and appreciative, as his skin relented and Edward sealed his  
lips around the wound.

The resounding _'crack'_ was all he needed before he started sucking and moaning his pleasure  
into Harry's bloodstream. He pulled off Harry's neck with a wet sound that will forever ring in the  
latter's ear, looking like a wild animal when Harry saw him again with bloodstained lips.

"What's this?" Harry teased him, familiar with and deprived of his older brother's animalistic side.

He dabbed Edward's reddened lips and the latter followed by doing the same, staring at the blood  
like it was foreign. "It's yours."

"It is." Harry rolled his back in a full rotation and revelled in the drip off new blood down the side  
of his neck. He's been waiting _so long_ to have a mark like this on him from Edward.

Edward eyed the blood with unblinking vision until Harry tilted his head to the side and he surged  
forward again to lick it up. His tongue was a hot relief to Harry's chilly skin.

"I've waited far too to give you this." Edward said with his whole hand wrapped around Harry's  
throat, infusing his brother's pulse into himself.

"You have." Harry swallowed and his Adam's Apple pushed against Edward's palm.  
Edward conceded. "You were my whore for longer."

Harry's dilated eyes miraculously narrowed to black targets with all-green mapping around it. "I  
fuck our Lou just like you."  
"You fuck our petal." Edward's lips curled into a sinister but self-satisfied smirk. "However, not like  
I do, brother."

  
* * * * *  


"Hey." Louis greeted as he saw Harry walking into the bedroom.

Harry was still flying on Cloud 9 and gave Louis a true grin. "Hello, petal."

Louis' mouth falling agape when he saw the man's neck. He forgot about the hockey jersey he was  
pulling on in favour of rushing over to the man and examining the cause of broken skin.

"What happened?" He asked urgently, trying not to touch the open injury that looked ghastly  
and......_familiar._ "Wait."

Harry watched the gears shift and mesh in Louis' head, his smug expression never expiring. Louis  
eventually sighed when he touched his own neck where the torn tissue of Edward's mark on him  
remained to date, shaking his head not disapprovingly.

"What if I had gotten normal boyfriends?" He asked quietly, knowing even as he said it that such a  
fantasy could never make him happy.

"You-" Harry seized his hips and tossed him onto the bed. "-would not get fucked the way you're  
about to."

Raising a challenging eyebrow, Louis pushed himself up onto his elbows and spread his legs  
enough for the deed to be enticing. As the air got thicker with with the belly of the beast of arousal  
waking up from a day of meagre at a _theme park_, Harry pulled his shirt over his head.  
Louis got more than an eyeful of Harry's naked torso on display with the precisely carved muscles  
down his abdomen, the V-line that led Louis to a happy trail of sensual enjoyment.

Louis' libido woke up and ran his excitement through the roof, eliciting a challenging pout from his  
rounded lips after Harry had stripped off his shirt and crawled up the bed. Between his legs the  
man's body fitted, his hips landing against Louis' and his lips taking over the boy's brain  
functionalities.

Arms circled Harry's neck as Louis' manhood twitched in interest. He closed his eyes and got lost in  
the press of Harry's bare, damp chest on his as he was pinned to the mattress. A tongue dipped into  
his mouth and tasted what Harry's been without, hips slamming into the space between Louis'  
thighs. The boy shivered and his back arched upward, Harry's hand skimming over his delectable  
milky skin.

Louis fisted the sheets as Harry attached his lips to his left nipple, rolling the nub between his teeth.  
The whirling pool in the dungeon of his abdomen stirred along with the submissive that was  
aroused whenever he was touched in this sinful way.

Harry flipped him over with one fluid, sudden motion. Louis' face was smashed into the sheets and  
his lungs deflated with the loss of air within them, skin prickling with the need to be pleasured. He  
choked on the saliva under his tongue when Harry dug the heel of his palm into the back of his  
skull.

It didn't hurt, the pressure was intense and he started to resist when he thought his head might pop  
off his neck with the strength Harry was forcing onto him. His eyes teared up and his fingers clawed  
at the sheets in desperate attempts to free himself, his muscle tendons lighting up with the fire of  
harm.

Louis jerked and moaned when Harry's palm spanked the curve of his bum, leaning over him so his  
massive weight brought the boy deeper into the springs of this contraption. Being in just panties left  
all of his sensitized skin out in the open, beckoning abuse.

"I worship this ass of yours, petal." Harry turned his face into the side of Louis' head, releasing his  
skull from the cradle of his hand.

"Daddy." Louis pressed his clenched fists into the mattress and Harry covered them with his hands,  
mouthing at Louis' neck and sucking bruises into it.

"Yes, petal?" Harry pinned Louis' wrists above his head and sneaked a hand down between them.

Louis whined when he lived through three more spankings, loving how it made his damp skin tingle  
and itch. "E-Edward?"

Harry is smiling into Louis' shoulder as he shifts their bodies to be the perfect positions.   
The telltale sound of fingers being lubed up by saliva and Harry's being zipper lowered made Louis fret and  
giddy. He didn't get any prep which was a common happening in their hurried fucks, and wet  
fingers poking the clenching muscle of his hole made him eager.

Louis whined and unknowingly rutted against the sheets. He wriggled his bum against Harry's  
crotch so the man groaned and got up on his knees. The sight of Louis'  
"Look up, petal." Harry said lowly in his ear.

Louis' gaze lifted from the threads of their bedsheets to find Edward standing in the doorway like he  
was there the whole time, winking at the boy upon eye contact. His head bowed again when Harry  
pushed him forward by his waist.

"Petal." Edward was crouching at the edge of the bed where Louis' face was planted, his deft fingers  
raising the boy's chin to look him in the eye.

First, Edward kissed him. Kissed him passionately while Harry dared to spit on Louis' fluttering rim  
before slipping one lubed finger into it. Louis felt throttled by just one appendage and bit Edward's  
tongue unintentionally, the deepening of the kiss making him a cripple.

"I'm going to watch, darlin'." Edward promised him, pulling away where Louis' lips couldn't follow  
him.

More than anything after hearing those words, Louis wanted to put on a show for Edward that made  
him _jealous_. It can be easy enough if he didn't everything right from the start.

"Yes, Daddy." He pulled away from Edward when the man leaned in to kiss him, playing it off by  
turning around to be on his back again.

He felt Harry's finger go as deep as it could before scraping his prostate and jabbing in a second  
finger. His walls tightened around the pair like it's his first time and Harry groaned loud, drawn out  
with his body cloaking Louis' protectively. He imagined that tight heat around him and his fingers  
pushed in harder until Louis was writhing, sweating with arousal.

Harry had Louis' bum turned vibrant red from his attention to it, rubbing his free hand over Louis'  
full and soft hips wishing it was his lips getting the opportunity to worship Louis' body like this.

"I'm going to make you beg, petal." Harry dragged his moist lips over Louis' cheek.

Louis let his bent knees fall to the bed, his legs splayed open and body moving in tandem with the  
thrusts of Harry's long, perfect fingers. They reached deep inside him but not deep enough, weren't  
thick enough in the way that unravelled Louis stitch by stitch.

His eyelids fall closed and his fingers twitched, head of his own c*ck peeking out of his panties'  
waistband. He felt droplets of precome on his lower tummy and Harry's lips to the left of his belly  
button. His jaw tightened when Harry licked a stripe across the tip of his hard-on, whimpering when  
a third finger fitted itself inside him.

Harry yanked his underwear down and freed his swollen length, mouth landing safely over Louis'  
nipple. He suckled sloppily with wet spit trails all over Louis' chest, thrusting his fingers in and out  
of Louis' body in slow pumps that tortured the boy.

Louis felt that ache growing, stretching him out in a far more painful way than Harry opening up.  
He moaned and forced his eyes open, catching the shape of Edward's dark form in the corner of his  
eye. His thighs quivered and erection strained as his first orgasm barrelled out of him.

The pressure on his prostate and lips praising his sensitive nipples, his smaller hands unable to do  
more than clutch Harry's shoulders like it was his source of breath convulsing with him as he arched  
and came across his tummy. Harry felt the clamping down around his three fingers and didn't pause  
to pity the boy, wanting Louis so far off this edge that it broke him.

Edward is saying something to Harry that Louis can't hear because his ears are ringing and the  
blood has just dispersed to the rest of his body, carrying winds of pleasure with it. The next thing he  
felt was a lift and drop, his back landing on colder sheets and head on a pillow.

Louis felt the fog fading away when Harry's face was looming over his, noses brushing as his body  
was locked in the cradle of Louis' thighs. "With me, baby?"

He could only nod and kiss back when Harry's mouth closed over his, body buzzing from its  
postcoital glow. Harry's fingers were out of him, leaving him open and clenching around nothing  
but wanting.

"You are only proving my point, brother." Edward's deep voice interrupts them, giving nothing  
away about how he's affected by this.

Louis pulls away from the kiss to look at him, satisfied by the evident bulge in Edward's pants.  
"What point?"

Harry is making his way down the delicious territory of Louis' body, fitting himself in under his  
thighs with the boy's legs over his shoulders. Edward watches him for a second before his black  
eyes meet Louis'. "He thinks he can fuck you like I do."

Louis is surprised by this, as it would have been the last thing he guessed. He was momentarily  
stunted when Harry plunged two fingers back into him, hissing at the cold contact on his  
insufficiently lubed walls. His body has to take the intrusion of two more from Harry's other hand  
when the man inserts them.

Four fingers deep in his lover, Harry pressed uncoordinated kisses all over Louis' inner thighs. He  
closed his eyes and his face was buried in the boy's soft flesh, bright red marks on the skin because  
of him.

Using his opposing hands, Harry pulled Louis open enough for it to not hurt but it _stung_  
from such a stretch. Louis cried out and squirmed against it, biting his lip and releasing a hot flood  
of noises that expressed his torture.

Harry created the tiniest of spaces between his fingers for his tongue to lick and teeth to nibble on.  
The tight stretch of Louis' hole kept him trying to get closer, shoving the tip of his tongue in so it  
_burned_ so magnificently. His fingers pressed into Louis' warm folds where it was hooked  
over his rim and his tongue tasted what it could.

Louis got himself up on his elbows, wanting to watch Harry down there between his legs working  
mercilessly to invade his body and mind. His hair, damp from his recent shower, fell back like a  
short chestnut curtain between his shoulderblades as his fingers and toes curled to sustain the  
pleasantness.

He was already willing to beg.

"Want something, petal?" Edward teased but his grim facial expression has shown none of that.

Louis passed him a quick glare before Harry's tongue was fitted inside him and he could no longer  
think correctly. One by one his fingers were extracted and Louis' walls clamped down around the  
wiggling muscle as it invaded the warm tunnel. Screaming from hot white pleasure, Louis could  
feel every move Harry's tongue made and his lips when they circled his puckered rim to suck  
harshly on it.

"D-Daddy please." Louis started his onslaught of pleads. "Want your c*ck, Daddy."

Harry didn't think it was good enough and forced his tongue in deeper, causing Louis to choke and  
for his mouth to ache. Louis' body writhed in the mess he was in, come painting his tummy and  
fingernails scratching at anything it landed on.

When Louis whined and a knuckle in him cracked from the way his flexibility was pushed beyond  
its limits, Harry sympathised and retracted. The boy's hole was unable to close as it clenched around  
nothing but cold air, the chill paralysing his insides and making him _crave._

"Shh, petal." Harry set about calming Louis down by rubbing his sides and kissing his forehead.

"I've got you, baby."

Louis wrapped himself around Harry and knew he was about to get what he wanted, almost  
forgetting that Edward was antagonising every move they made. 

"W-Wait." He pushed at Harry's chest when he man made to position himself, his head snapping up  
to look Louis in the eye with concern.

"Petal?"

Harry was nudged back onto his knees, Louis not giving him a chance to breathe before engulfing  
his c*ck with his mouth. He let out a long groan that caused his chest to vibrate, eager to have  
Louis' mouth on him going deeper and deeper.

Louis did it for two reasons. He wanted to taste Harry the way he knew they both liked, sucking  
hard and massaging the throbbing vein on the underside with his tongue. He also knew how wild it  
drove Edward when he sucked him off, as it always gave him a dominant edge and made him fall  
apart.

Digging his nails into Harry's thigh, Louis allowed the man to thrust his hips shallowly while his  
throat got past the gagging reflex. Louis choked on Harry's length in his mouth, hot and thick  
shoving its way down his pharynx where it would turn his voice into a croak. He tasted the  
bitterness of Harry's precome and his eyes burned with tears when Harry caught him by the back of  
his head, thrusting into his mouth without fear of hurting him.

"You are a _slut_, petal." Edward was right beside him all of a sudden whispering darkly into  
his ear with those razors for teeth latching onto his earlobe. "I know what you're doing."

_Good_, Louis thinks smugly and pulls off Harry's manhood with a desirable wet pop. He puts  
his palm on Edward's chest, meeting his eye for a brief moment to convey his salacious intentions,  
before pushing the man back. The act is timed with him letting go to grab Harry by the shoulders  
and pull him down, all the more close to his bare and aching body.

Within him the unconquerable _want_ began to stir as it roped every physical part of him into  
the chaos. He had a crippling need buried so deep inside that he knew only Harry could sate it,  
could sate _him._ The resulting anguish was a hurt so encompassing that Louis need not do  
more than whimper before Harry knew what to do.

"Petal." He scrambled desperately onto the boy's awaiting temple of a body with every ounce of lust  
his body could conjure up pairing with a smidgen of spite for his older sibling, as he spat on his  
c*ck and buried himself in Louis without hesitation.

Louis made a sound that's a mixture of pain and undeniable pleasure, his gasp getting choked off by  
a pair of lips that taste like him. His fingers find their purchase in Harry's curls, his finger that  
carried the only tattoo he ever acquired tingling amongst the light brown curls.

Harry halted his hips when he was hilt-deep inside his exquisite lover, chin resting on Louis'  
heaving chest as he peered up with black eyes awaiting a word. He met Louis' collarbone and torso  
with his lips, desperately leaving little wet patches everywhere until he could smell himself on the  
boy.

Edward was being devoured by jealousy and envy. He stood with his fists clenched at his sides  
watching the most erotic scene of his life but his blood boiling with his inability to join. He loved  
Louis and he loved his brother so this _feeling_ is absolutely foreign to him. He hates the  
emotion that made him resent his brother between Louis' legs and stretched out against Louis' body.  
He felt that feeling evaporate when Louis whispered something not difficult to guess into Harry's  
ear. Harry pushed himself up until there was an arm's length distance between him and his petal,  
starting to rotate his hips so the boy's body was coaxed into opening further. Louis panted and  
scratched down Harry's back, hips rolling to their own rhythm as Harry pulled out and slammed  
back in.

It hit Louis' insides at the exact spot he craved and he screamed with a hoarse voice upon the brutal  
impact. Harry aimed his thrusts there, at that precise angle, and started to pound into Louis with a  
type of urgency. His skin turned sweaty and his muscles strained with how fast he pushed himself to  
move, skin slapping against skin and the heat surrounding him feeling like a drug.

He appreciated Louis' intoxicating body by throwing his head back and groaning, lip bitten and hips  
magnetising to Louis'. His fingers fisted the pillow Louis' head rested on and he leaned down to  
connect their lips, dropping to his forearms. Louis hiked his thighs up higher on Harry's sides,  
releasing small sounds everytime Harry drove into his prostate.

Their pace turned brutal and _hard_ when they both got close enough to their orgasms, Louis  
feeling Harry so deep that his insides quivered with each collision. He let his jaw fall open and  
Harry immediately unite their lips, his tongue fucking Louis' mouth so he choked and fell prey to  
whatever he was being given.

Harry grabbed Louis' ass from the mattress and pulled it up into the air, pushing himself deeper and  
closer to the boy as he got sloppy. His thrusts hit significantly sensitive regions of Louis from this  
angle and Louis was starting to clench sporadically around him, milking him of his orgasm. He  
lowered his mouth to Louis' nipple and his speed increased until Louis' pelvic bone started to ache  
in good and bad ways.

Louis' orgasm tore through him like a sheet from years ago being ripped off his raw flesh. He  
screamed and arched his back so much that Harry could trace a near complete perfect 'O' from it.  
Harry ran his palm down Louis' front and prodded around the area where they were connected, the  
drag of his c*ck on the boy's rim making it swell and throb.

"F-Fuck!" Harry muttered before he gripped the headboard and plowed into Louis' tightness that  
was getting increasingly worse, his climax draining him of his energy.

Louis sagged against the sheets when his body simply could not handle anymore physical stress. He  
felt Harry's warm come splatter inside him and sighed contentedly from it, sharing a warm kiss with  
the other man before he was emptied of his softening length.

Just like how the cool air hit the flushed and exhausted surface of his skin in a blink, so was the  
time taken for it to be gone. He cracked open his eyes tiredly to find Edward hovering over him  
with a deadly look in his eye.

"That wasn't nice, petal." Edward bit down _hard_ on Louis' finger. "I did not appreciate you  
pushing me away."

"Edward." Louis hardly sounded like he was speaking with a voice, just a whisper.

He tried to move his legs but they were jelly. Edward moved them for him, a little forcefully as he  
made them wrap around his waist before bringing a hand to Louis' cheek. "What, baby?"

"'m ti-tired." Louis mumbled, whining high in his sand-papery throat when Edward pressed their  
bodies together and he felt something hot drip out of him faster.

"You must be." Edward's lips were on Louis' jaw. "You fucked everything out of my brother."

Louis could barely register what Edward was saying but tried to stay awake to listen. "'m sorry."

"Sorry for what, petal?" Edward's arms slipped beneath Louis' back and up the soft length of it,  
briefly lifting the boy up so his hands were on his shoulderblades.

"Love you." Louis welcomed Edward's kiss.

"I love you too, petal." Edward chuckled, too fond of his lover to be upset with him.

Louis' eyes flew open along with a loud, raspy complaint when he felt Edward's semi-hard erection  
sliding into him. "N-No, Edward."

"Hush." Edward kept moving his lips from Louis' nipple to his ear and temple, avoiding Louis'  
prostate as he rocked into him.

The bed creaked with Edward's gentle thrusts, forced to pin Louis' wrists down when the boy started  
clawing at his back. Louis swallowed thickly and fought his moan, his walls and mind weeping with  
this intrusion. It felt _so good_ but he was too tired to appreciate it thoroughly.

Edward was so skilled in the way he moved his hips only, rounding them filthily whilst mouthing at  
Louis' jugular. He had the release of Harry's orgasm to lube up the sore walls of his sweet petal,  
taking advantage of getting off without implicating Louis.

"Consent, baby?" He asked when he was fully hard and still avoiding Louis' special spot.

Louis was made desperate again and nodded frantically, offering himself up anyway he can.  
He had the breath knocked out of him when Edward started fucking him. His muscles were spasmic  
and lethargic, hardly able to keep up as Edward's heavy erection plundered his insides. The pain  
was bearable as he's experienced worse with the twins, the hurt of his lower region promising  
explicit soreness tomorrow but fuelled his awakening libido right now.

This being his third orgasm of the night, he couldn't control anything that came out of his mouth.  
"Y-Yes, Daddy!"

Edward was smirking into his neck and executed perfectly timed thrusts, changing his angle and  
going deeper until he pounded Louis' prostate. He loved watching Louis fall apart wrapped up in  
him. "Right there, baby?"

Louis made a noise somewhere between a whimper and abrupt agreement.

He moaned and scratched his nails on the knuckles of Harry's hand, whole body moving with how  
fierce Edward was being. He was full the whole time, stuffed to the brink with his lover fucking  
him stupid. When he was jerked upward too many times in a row, his hand grabbed the headboard  
and Edward grunted into the sweaty expanse of his throat.

Becoming far more desperate because Edward being high-strung for so long and Louis wanting a  
taste of one more release, he became more vocal in his needs. "R-Right _there_, Daddy.  
Harder!"

Edward loved this side of Louis and bucked his hips in pivoting in a fashion of no mercy. He's  
certain Louis was experiencing the real poison of pain but Louis looked ethereal with it. It was his  
kind of drug to have when he was high like this.

He started to make the entire bed bang into the wall with each thrust of his, Louis gasping and  
crying out in alternation. His legs fell onto the mattress and Edward growled possessively as he  
fucked him no harder than he wanted. "Hard enough, baby?"

Louis keened under the black spotlight of Edward eyes, feet digging into the mattress and hands  
above his head. He was being torn apart and tied up with this wonderful pleasure, hacked to pieces  
by the pain. "Do-Don't sto-_stop_, Daddy. Please!"

The head of Edward's straining hot shaft punched Louis' swollen prostate twice more before they  
both relented in the cat and mouse chase that was every sexual experience. Louis felt utterly broken  
below the waistline and his body was on fire but Edward's still splashing his hot insides with come  
and that extinguished his flame of hurt.

It astounded them that Harry had gone to the bathroom and come back only to fall asleep without  
saying anything. He seemed to know exactly what his brother was going to do.

When both their breathing were levelled, and Edward rested his cheek over Louis' galloping heart,  
one of them spoke. "You've broken me."

Edward chuckled with a shake of his head as Louis put the bedside lamp off. "Petal, you aren't  
broken."

Louis combed through Edward's damp hair with his weak fingers, watching the ceiling. "Why were  
you jealous?"

"I am always envious when my brother gets to be with you and not me. I am a very jealous person,  
petal. Anyone who touches you-" Edward draws in a quick breath and his hand tightens around  
Louis' hip. "-is someone I'd make bleed."

"Even Harry?"

"No, petal. I'd never hurt my pup."

"Then I don't understand." Louis frowns. He only now registers that Edward is still very much  
sheathed inside him.

"Besides myself, only my brother gets to have this piece of you." Edward's index finger taps Louis'  
hip bone that's a little visible through the skin. "Sometimes I fear that's not enough."

Louis is well on his way to shocked with this revelation. "You don't.....you don't like Harry touching  
me?"

"Sometimes." This voice isn't Edward's, but Harry himself who intervenes after being roused from  
his slumber.

Edward is still drawing spirals on Louis' hip. "He knows how I can become over certain things,  
petal."

Harry turns on his side when Louis looks at him, expecting an explanation. "It's not something he  
can control, petal."

"You're not......-" Louis is nervous to ask. "-going to hurt anyone?"

"No." Edward responds firmly, almost like he's sternly settling his internal debate on the topic.  
"Not you or I, petal." Harry kisses Louis' forehead. "That's all that matters."

It was an odd thing. Edward got jealous of Harry? Envious may be the word he preferred to use but  
that was irrelevant. Louis hardly had the energy to think over it now, considering he was reassured  
that this flaw is as harmless as everything else about Edward. He was not settled by it.

Louis smiles at him before turning back to the man tracing the skin around his belly button. "You  
know there's no reason to be jealous between us, Edward."

Edward's arm wraps around Louis' middle and he gently lays a kiss on the boy's pudge. "Maybe  
take me to church for it, petal."

  
* * * * *  


An hour before midnight came around but when the alarm went off for them to get up, Harry nearly  
smashed it in trying to shut it up. He fell asleep again without caring for the chance they were  
missing out on.

The birds don't sing in the early morning hours in Seattle. Instead, the rain picked up and the soft  
patter against their windows is what woke the people up. When Louis opened his eyes he was in no  
different a position to what he fell asleep in the night before, except a sliver of morning light peeked  
through their dark purple curtains and Harry was staring at him.

"Hi." He spoke shyly, voice cracking as the product of last night's amorous and taxing activities.  
Harry smiles only wryly when he pecks Louis' lips, the latter held down by a dozing haphazardly  
Edward. "Will you go somewhere with me?"

"Right now?" Louis groans, muffling it with his pillow because his nether regions felt completely  
useless and a little shattered.

"Yes." Harry replies curtly, already rolling out of bed.

Louis simply cannot move out from under Edward but Harry's manner of speaking and tone of  
detachment has him worried about what might be wrong. He winces as he gets himself a little free  
but then Harry's there out of nowhere, taking him by the arm and lifting him up off the bed.

Edward stirs and blinks awake to find Louis being carried off into the bathroom. "What are you  
doing?"

Louis feels something wretched twist in his gut but Harry is well composed. "Shower!"

They're in the adjacent bathroom when Harry flips off the lights and closes the door. Louis starts to  
panic at that sign, his red flags going up again.

"I'm not going to hurt you, petal." Harry tells him, almost amused by the troubled look in Louis'  
eye.

"Then why did you close the door?" Louis fires back, being carried into the shower section where  
the spray was on and ice cold. He hisses at the demented and freezing water until Harry adjusts it to  
something tolerably warm.

Harry doesn't take the time to answer him until he's set the boy down gingerly on his own feet and  
closed the shower door. He's taking most of the heat - literally - by standing directly under the  
shower head whilst Louis is crowded up against the misted wall. Harry's hair is already dripping  
wet and his skin has turned light pink.

Louis studies the look in Harry's eyes but every clear emotion is fleeting and he can't understand  
anything. His hands are upon the man's chest, looking up through the water droplets that hit his skin  
a lot cooler than what Harry is experiencing. Water washes clean his skin but the aches and pains  
within are skill lingering.

"You need to leave, petal."

Besides the water beneath his bare feet, these words themselves nearly send Louis to the floor.  
"Harry- What?"

Harry contradicts his words by closing in on Louis with both arms beside the boy's head, his frown  
worsening with all the inner conflict he experiences. It pains him to say it. "Just- Just   
_listen_.You have to go, baby."

Louis' eyelashes clump together with the water running down his face, his fingers tightening around  
Harry's nape as he keeps him close and prisoner. This mercurial side of Harry hasn't made this  
drastic a spin in all of Louis' life and it's _scary._ Why did he want Louis to leave?

"Go?" He managed to rush out, one hand caressing Harry's cheek and the other being kissed at the  
fingertips by Harry's lips.

Harry felt his heart clench at just _hearing_ the word from his precious petal's lips. Louis must  
never leave. He must _stay_ with them forever.

"Petal, darlin'." Harry has a crazed look in his eye as he presses his forehead to Louis'. "What my  
brother said to you, petal. I thought- I thought he was over it, baby, but he's....he's going to hurt you  
and I can't let him."

"Hurt me? How would Edward hurt me?"

Louis was blocked off from seeing anything behind Harry by how the man shields and towers over  
him. That's the least of his worries when Harry looks so desperate to convince Louis of something  
so preposterous whilst appearing to be afraid of something.

"He's dangerous sometimes, petal." Harry lowers his voice to something that cracks and needs to be  
pressed right up against Louis in order to make any sense. "Too dangerous."

"You're not making any sense, Harry."

For a split second Louis believes that Harry is about to forget this whole thing happened and  
abandon him in this rapidly cooling shower. That moment dies a sorrowful death along with the  
pulse in his blood vessels when Harry slams his fist against the tiles and doesn't move to flinch even  
though Louis does.

"Why did I bring you in here, petal?" Harry asks, water racing down his visage in the hollows and  
dips of his facial bone structure.

"T-To tell me this." Louis stammers, hands imprisoned by Harry's giant hand.

"Why here? Why not out there?" Harry nudges his chin in the general direction of the door behind  
him. "I didn't intend to let my brother hear what I'm telling you."

"But I _don't understand_ what you're telling me, Harry!" He almost shouts loudly enough to  
be audible above the splashes and gushing of the water.

"Shh." Harry covers Louis' mouth with his hand and brings their faces to be a hair's breath apart.

"My brother used to be a certain way. It was terrifying to be around him. You don't know what he's  
capable of when he's like that."

"Like what?"

"Jealous. He used to be that way with me, petal, and there aren't many things that scare me quite  
like the way he did. He'll take it too far and you'll get hurt."

Louis is staring right into this man's soul and it's the most overwhelming experience of his life.  
Harry is telling the truth and finally all those misunderstood glints in Edward's eyes make sense.

"I thought he'd changed, petal." Harry goes on. "I love you and I don't want to ever lose you but  
he'll....he'll lock you in rooms to keep you from going out. He'll hurt _anyone_ who got too  
close to you when he's like that. A monster. I never thought he'd go back to it. Most of the time he's  
okay but those few...._seconds_ it takes to tick him off could get you hurt."

Louis' lips are quivering along with his fingers at this news, bearing the brunt and full force of  
Harry's unrelenting stare through it all. He is breathing with a heavy, constricting ribcage around his  
heart. Harry's hand settles over his shoulder, his thumb brushing back and forth over Louis' clavicle.

"Harry-" He relies dependently on Harry just as the man leans against him. "-I love your brother. I  
love _you_. I'm not afraid of him."

Harry makes a disgruntled sound and keeps Louis tucked in under his chin. "You should be, petal."


	50. Chapter Fifty

**"Harry-" He relies dependently on Harry just as the man leans against him. "-I love your  
brother. I love _you_. I'm not afraid of him."**

**Harry makes a disgruntled sound and keeps Louis tucked in under his chin. "You should be,  
petal."**

***NARRATOR'S POV***

Louis squeezed his eyes shut an let his head rest on Harry's hard shoulder, sinking in just the right  
amount because the muscle is so firm yet somewhat tender. His arms wrap around under Harry's  
shoulders so his palms were on his scapullas.

"I won't leave." Louis whispers, tasting the hot water as it raced down to his lips and below.

He feels Harry's lips on his hair and steps closer to lean against the man between his legs. His  
fingers lightly scrape Harry's skin as the man works his way down to Louis' neck.

"Okay, petal." Harry slid his hands significantly lower over Louis' buttocks to his thighs, squeezing  
before lifting them off the ground.

Louis has the wall to lean against and sets his elbows on Harry's broad shoulders, feet dangling at  
the man's sides as he distracted his dark thoughts with small kisses. Harry kissed his pulse and  
turned his head to connect their lips, both their eyes closed and Louis' fingers playing with Harry's  
hair.

Harry may have been a little worried at Louis' decision to ignore his warnings and stay, but he knew  
if anyone could rid Edward of whatever monster riddled his senses it was Louis. He captures Louis'  
bottom lip between both of his and a frown knits his brows together. The concern is melting into  
affection and Harry finds himself falling forward and Louis opening up his mouth to accept the  
invasion of his tongue.

With jerky and chopped movements, Harry wraps Louis' legs around him and tries not to separate  
their lips. He listens to Louis' soft moans when he starts to massage the boy's perfect behind,  
breathing harshly into each other's close proximity. Louis tugs on his hair and Harry bites his lip,  
throwing them overboard into something enchanting.

Louis tastes like early morning and soft sweetness, Harry like the phantom of the earth itself. Harry  
suddenly hikes Louis' thighs high up on his waist, Louis' back sliding down the wall until he's  
squashed and folded in half. The boy gasps at nearly hitting the ground but Harry slips his hands  
under his arms and holds him up.

"You are such a brave boy." Harry's breath fans Louis' lips and his body warmth sandwiches Louis,  
boxing him in with a much bigger form.

Louis caresses Harry's cheek and the blue of his eyes have turned to liquid crystal, showing off  
every feeling he has for Harry. "Love is hard. I have to be brave."

Harry appreciated that answer and helped Louis become as comfortable as is possible when he's in  
such a compromising position. He rubs over Louis' back from the dip to over the boy's behind,  
dragging his nails along the skin on the way back up.

"You are staying." Harry has his mouth on Louis' temple, brushing the boy's hair so it's flat and  
dripping wet. "Would you like to go back to bed, petal?"

Louis inhales deeply and feels the tip of his nose turn cold. "I couldn't sleep if I wanted to now."

Thoughts of Edward acting up have plagued his mind, laced his every floating memory. How  
violent can he get? How possessive? Harry was so shaken by the feat itself when he had to warn  
Louis of it that he could hardly get the words out.

Louis' eyes close after his brain begins to feel heavy, too heavy for his weak shoulders. He sighs  
tiredly and turns his face into Harry's neck, wanting to forget this whole thing. "'arry, I'm sore."

Harry chuckles into the crook of Louis' arm where he places a light kiss before straightening up. He  
gently sets Louis on his feet and picked up the body gel. Louis embodies all that Harry asks that the  
world give him. He lathers up some of the vanilla-scented gel on a sponge for his petal to use.

Louis' forearms are on Harry's torso, his head tilted back under the water spraying down on him.  
Harry was careful in washing him, spreading the soap so Louis resembled a human marshmallows  
from the chest downwards. He kissed Louis every two heartbeats when the speed of time slowed  
down and his lips got lonely.

When they found it in themselves to pull away from another so that they could step out of the  
shower with their pruney fingers and pink skin. Harry found a towel for Louis first and wrapped the  
boy up in it twice over, leaving him immobile under those layers.

"What is the point of this?" Louis asked, unable to throw his hands up, standing on a rubber mat  
with a black towel around his shoulders.

Harry looked at him like he was something adorable. He in fact was to the man who found thrill and  
joy in very little outside Louis. "I like the moments you are dependent on me."

Louis cooes at him when Harry comes to pick him up again with no regard for Louis' ability to  
move on his own. He tries escaping the arms of this man by dashing out of his radius whenever  
Harry gets close enough, eventually sacrificing his towel to race out of the bathroom when Harry  
grabs one end.

"Petal!" Harry chases after him when Louis exits the bathroom, leaving wet footprints on the beige  
carpet.

"Petal." Another voice stops Louis' loud giggling and takes hold of his arms, Edward's face _so  
close_ to the boy's when he collides with the man's chest.

Louis tries to move past the loud thump his heart creates when it falls to his gut. Edward's eyes are  
sleepy and no more harmful than he always is, voice scratchy and hair disarrayed.

"Hi." He fully intends to pretend like Harry never said a thing to him, giving Edward a fair chance.

Edward suspects nothing and Louis can relax his heartbeat without feeling guilty or in distress. He  
even receives a very faithful and warm kiss. "Hello, my sweet petal."

Harry takes on the persona he's swathed in when around his brother, moving past the united pairing  
to go into the closet. Edward quizzically assesses Louis' half-nude state and picks up the towel from  
fallen at his hips to drape over the boy's shoulders.

Louis can never see a monster in those dark but loving and wide eyes. He can only see Edward.  
_His_ Edward.

Edward had his four fingers splayed out on Louis' nape, cupping the back of his neck to bring him  
closer. Louis' warm puffs of air is tasted on Edward's tongue, minty and delicious. The taller,  
towering male brushes Louis' lips with his own tenderly.

"I think a shower would do me good." Edward murmurs with his eyes half-lidded.

Louis feels like the criminal between them imagining that his lover can ever be more than a little  
protective. Everyone's a little protective. He refuses to let himself become afraid of Edward now  
after _so much has happened_.

"It's a pity you won't be joining me." He continues, pointedly gesturing to Louis' wrinkled  
fingertips.

"I will make you breakfast to make up for it." Louis bargained, taking his own back and slipping out  
of Edward's grasp smoothly.

"Go on then." Edward swats Louis on his bum and send him off into the bedroom.

Louis squeaks but covers it up with a powerful scowl before skipping out of the bathroom doorway  
on a quest to find fresh clothing. His muscles are incredibly sore below his waist, threatening to  
twist and snap as he stresses them with his quick steps.

He finds Harry in the closet tracking down his infamous navy Nike sweatpants. Somewhere  
between there and the room he abandoned his worry had gone up in flames, re-ignited when Harry's  
deeply set eyes land on his.

"Don't give me that look." Louis mumbles when he steps up next to the man for a shirt and  
underwear.

Harry remains silently staring at Louis for a short time, eyes unblinking and his jaw clenched. If he  
had kept it up for a moment more than he did, something in Louis would have cracked.

"Are you going to make breakfast?" Harry switches the intensity of his stare to merely enquiring  
with no glint in his eye.

"Yeah." Louis sucks his bottom lip into his mouth.

He chewed the inside of his cheek and pulled a plain grey T-shirt over his head that hung down to  
just above his knees. He found a clean pair of boxer briefs and slipped them on before Harry made  
an issue about it. Without a doubt in his head, he loved his feminine undies but there were days  
when he wanted the cotton to stretch over his bum and reach the very tops of his thighs.

"I will help you." Harry sees the black boxers at the back where Louis' shirt got tucked in at the tail  
but that was far from anything he should be worrying about.

It isn't odd that Harry holds Louis' hands on their way to the kitchen, twice he brings the boy's  
knuckles up to his lips for a chaste kiss. He only parts with that union when Louis pads into the  
kitchen and the curtains need to be drawn, by Harry's action alone the shedding the dull morning  
light over Louis.

The windows run from wall to wall in their open-plan living space outside their bedroom. Louis  
could feel the warmth of the dull sun on his bare arms fighting with the chill of the cold floors on  
his feet. He was standing with a bowl full of pancake mixture, licking his fingertips of the blueberry  
and chocolate traces when he saw a shadow cut the sunlight over his work surface.

Looking up from the cream batter, where his wooden spoon kept mixing with the smell of  
caramelising butter on the stove wafting through the air, Louis finds Harry leaning against the other  
side of the counter. His biceps were straining under the pressure he put on them, tattoos bulging out  
to give them an animated livelihood. Harry's eyebrows were knitted together as he watched Louis as  
if the boy weren't watching him back.

"What's wrong?" Louis stepped over to the stove with his back to Harry, and poured some of the  
batter into the hot frying pan.

Harry picked a few of the blueberries from the plastic carton of it Louis set on the counter, popping  
one into his mouth every three seconds. He waited until Edward was about to enter their space after  
a shower to respond. "I'm afraid of you not believing me, petal."

Louis spun around with a mouth poised for a reply that never came out because Edward was joining  
them, donning white joggers and nothing else. He knew nothing, _suspected_ nothing. After  
arming himself with a handful of chocolate chips he strode over to Louis' station and entrapped his  
waist within the cage of his arms.

Harry watched them like a hawk, observing every little detail about his brother's interaction with  
their petal. He slid into a stool that was hardly above what he needed to pick himself up onto,  
cracking the knuckles in his neck and hands.

Edward doesn't say anything after he kisses Louis' neck right over the scar he left behind nearly a  
lifetime ago. He plants one before another and then one that resulted in a smacking noise. A small  
wet patch was left on Louis' throat over where his pulse beat strongly, chocolate essence lingering  
on his tongue.

"I had to change the sheets, petal." Edward mutters just a bit below Louis' ear into the tender skin,  
able to feel to rush of heat to the boy's face. "You made quite a mess last night."

Louis flipped a pancake, albeit shakily. "And who do we have to blame for that?"

"I believe that would be you. The body that tempts me to no end is yours, darlin'."

"Is my body all that tempts you then?" Moving from the stove plate with his spatula, Louis drops a  
pancake onto a plate while breaking a piece off to taste. 

Edward places a chocolate chip on Louis' shoulder, lining up four neatly before lifting them off  
Louis' body with his lips. "Petal, everything about you tempts me. I wish there was enough time in  
the world for me to worship all of it."

  
* * * * *  


Looking upon this tall order of both genders in a single file that extended for possibly miles in the  
form of a coiled snake, Louis' ability to tolerate it deflates gradually. He's got Harry's arm wound  
tightly around his waist with fingers drum against his hip. Edward was very closely pressed against  
his other side with an arm draped over Louis' shoulders.

"I'm not waiting in that queue." Louis announces to them both, trying not to rock back and forth on  
the rubber soles of his shoes.

"Neither am I." Harry coughs into his fist. "We've got tickets and seat numbers. There's no need to  
wait."  
Louis never thought he would see the inside of a Star Wars convention, let alone with the company  
he currently has. Because of missing the first ever showing of the modern film, they adjusted the  
times on their booking to noon today.

All around them were fanatics. C-3PO and R2D2 lovers had one or two pieces of their robot  
ensemble on, even a few wore the garbs of Yoda. It was breathtaking to see such dedication.  
"We can grab lunch-" Louis thinks out loud. "-despite the fact that we just ate."

Harry is already leading him out of the cinema complex and into the rest of the gigantic mall with  
glass walls closer to the ceiling and old styled pillars lining the two-floor walkway. "We have two  
hours to kill."

Edward took out his phone to briefly check something before dropping it back into his pocket. "I  
can tell you want to say something, petal."

Louis giggled and wavered their path of walking towards an ice cream bar in the middle of a  
platform meant to connect to escalator terminals. "I want ice cream."

He gets two scoops of apple and strawberry ice cream from the nice young girl behind the bar  
counter. She asks if he wants chocolate added as a topping but he's not willing to destroy the fruity  
goodness he's acquired and shakes his head.

"No, Harry. Get your own." Louis protects his ice cream from the man trying to obtain some.  
"Petal." Harry is trying to reason with him, Edward no less amused than he was when his brother  
first tried. "We're not paying twenty dollars again for my own ice cream."

Louis takes out a green note from his pocket and puts it in Harry's curled palm, smiling innocently  
when he pecks his cheek. He hopes this grants him privacy to take advantage of his ice cream now.

Groaning, Harry acts not so decently when he slides his hand into Louis' back pocket, dropping the  
money back into it before stealing the spoon from his petal with ice cream on it. Louis' lips stay  
frozen in their slightly parted nature for a small second before they twist into a scowl.

"That was mean." He snatches the spoon back from Harry after the man got a taste of the apple treat  
dollop on it.

Harry winks at him and Edward sighs, hoping this very public display of childishness is over  
between the two of them. He surprises Harry enough for his twin to raise his eyebrow when he  
throws his arm over Harry's shoulders. Louis' already walking away ahead of them and they follow  
closely behind.

"I hate malls." Louis says after dumping his empty cup in the nearest disguised bin. "Why did we  
get here so early?"

He doesn't expect a response from either twin that's trailing behind him and to no well-kept secret,  
ogling where his body curved over from back to thigh. One comes his way nonetheless.

"We expected traffic, petal." Edward answers because they really had.

On days like this, the weekend, Seattle had the worst streets to drive on and no back roads were  
worth taking.

Louis opens his mouth for either a fresh complaint or suggestion on what to do, when his left jacket  
pocket buzzes. He had his own phone this time and it was set on vibrate, but the number has hardly  
been given out to more than a handful of people so this puzzles him.

"What is it?" Edward is the first to ask, and for a moment Louis thinks about what Harry said to him  
but those reminders vanish when he reads the caller identification.

He drags the green button across the screen to answer it without replying to the man. "Hello?"

"Good evening. This is Doctor Stephenson at Seattle Grey Hospital. I'm calling to inform you that  
your father has woken up. He's asking for you."


	51. Chapter Fifty-One

***NARRATOR'S POV***

"Dad?" Louis stood in the doorway of Mark's hospital room, so shaky with nerves and _relief_  
that he could hardly see straight through his tears.

Both Harry and Edward consented when he asked that they just wait in the car for him to come back  
out. He didn't want them in there with him because this is something he'd like to do on his own.  
Mark was lying on the hospital bed with his body covered by a blanket up to his lower torso. He  
had a food tray over him but made no move to eat from it. The scratchy hair of his scruffy shadow  
was darkening his chin, making him appear so much more tired than he feels.

When Louis had rapped his knuckles on the gaping door, Mark's head turned away from the  
window to his son. His smile was brief but powerful enough to get Louis into the room, rushing  
over to his father's side.

"Dad." Louis gets onto a chair and drags it closer, no care for the noise as he gets to hold Mark's  
hand in both of his. "How- How are you feeling?"

Mark coughs into his fist and rolls his eyes, wincing at the end because the vengeance of his  
sinusitis hasn't eased. "Better than expected, son."

Louis can smile without a chip of it falling away, his thumb grazing the back of Mark's hand. He  
knows what he's going to say next but just the reminder of it makes his eyes sting with emotion.

"I-I'm-" He takes a deep breath to steady those feelings of uncertainty, of regret. "Dad, I'm so sorry.  
I never thought-"

"What are you sorry for?" Mark angles his head towards Louis, not expecting this outburst from his  
only son.

"For asking you to go to Middleston." Louis rushes to say, fending off the vicious memories that  
threaten to attack him. He looks to raw and desperate to be forgiven, wide eyes and flushed skin.  
"You never should have been there. It's my-"

"Son, if you say what happened to me is your fault I'll be most disappointed in you." He says  
strictly, aware of how his son is tearing himself apart just because he's such a passionate person who  
gave his total devotion to everything he did.

"What?" Louis brought one knee up on his chair, resting it against the edge of Mark's bed.

His father squeezed his hand and reached for the remote that controlled the positioning of his bed.  
Louis woke up and did it for him, going so far as to check his pillows and blanket.

"You're not the reason this happened." Mark says, pondering as he stared at his untouched meal.  
"Doctor said I was out for nearly eight months."

"You were." Louis swallows thickly. "You were stable the entire time, Dad. Please don't even think  
about it now."

"He failed to tell me when I got back home." Mark goes on again. "When in that time line did we  
get to Seattle?"

"Six months ago." Louis replies cautiously. "I um- moved back home too."

Mark's lips twitched into a real, unbarricaded smile. "I'm glad you did, son."

"Me too." Louis clears his throat, remembering that he never got to introduce Mark to the twins. He  
decides to bring up his sisters instead. "The girls are waiting outside to see you. I uh- asked them to  
let me come in first."

"I want to see my girls. I've missed them." Mark unlidded the transparent container with his salad  
and wiped the prongs of the fork with his napkin. "Is your.....issue in Middleston now resolved?"

"Issue?" Louis blinks ignorantly, toying with the pudding cup they both know Mark will give to him  
because he hates it.

"The reason you gave me that phone call, Louis." Mark specifies, stabbing a bit of lettuce and a  
cherry tomato. "You seem perfectly alright which I am glad to see."

Louis finds himself grinning before he can contain it, looking down at his hands on his lap. His  
father doesn't know so much about his life, let alone the fact that those who he was once petrified of  
are now his boyfriends. He loves dearly the monsters in men who used to scare him.

"I am good." Louis nods in confirmation, hugging his knees and balancing the pudding cup on one.  
"Been busy then?" Mark successfully eats all his salad, moving on to his omelette.

"Yeah." Louis gives up and reaches for the plastic spoon, peeling the foil off the pudding cup. "Just  
finished my exams."

"I would have guessed. How was your dissertation?" Mark asks. "You're always scared of  
speaking."

"It was fun." Louis spoons some of the pudding into his mouth. "Pretty sure I aced it too."

Mark hums in acknowledgment. "What else?"

Louis stops chewing. "What do you mean?"

"It's been eight months, son. Something remotely interesting must have happened in that time."

Louis gulps, sweating at his hairline again. He flicks his fringe out of his eyes. "I don't know."

"Would you like a criteria?" Mark raises his eye, mocking the boy.

Rolling his eyes, Louis tries not to pout. "You're mean, Dad."

"I am Dad. Being unreasonable and inquisitive is my duty." Mark sips from his tall glass of orange  
juice, feeling it quench his thirst but needing more food to fill the hunger aches with soothing  
calmness.

He does pout. "Well now you'll never know."

  
* * * * *  


When Louis was walking back to the awaiting Range Rover parked off at the hospital's front  
entrance, his shoulders felt so much lighter now that the weight has been lifted off them. He can  
take a deep breath and feel it reach his lungs. His knuckles can crack altogether rather than one left  
stubborn and elastic.

He hops down the stairs and onto the sidewalk, his hands buried deep in his pockets as he made his  
way towards his ride home. After promising to visit tomorrow when Mark is getting discharged  
from the hospital, he got a deal made that he'd pop by Mark's office.

Louis' father had been storing information about companies and organisations that could use a  
qualified psychologists. He knew many wealthy and successful people who owed him favours and  
already after just coming out of a _coma_ he's eager to return to work.

Standing beside the Rover with his back leaned against it with his fingers occupied by his phone, is  
Harry. From afar he looks like a disinterested teenager but Louis can stand miles away and still  
know that those black skinny jeans and half-done sunshine yellow button-up is belonging to a  
_man_ of far more worth.

This very man has his identical brother seated on the driver's side seat with the door open. Edward  
was beside Harry in that way, his legs propped up on the lip of the Rover's step to get up or off the  
vehicle. Louis was closer to them when both pairs of eyes looked up in synchronisation.

"Petal." Edward was the first to hop down and stride across the tarred ground to his lover. He had  
aviators on for the sun was glaring today, but pushed them onto his head when he bent over to kiss  
Louis' suspiciously sweet lips.

"Hi." Louis tilted his head back to savour the kiss, smiling into it.

"How is your father?" Harry pushes off the Range Rover and comes to join them, sharing in one of  
Louis' tender kisses.

"He's ready to go back to the office." Louis replies with a small laugh, appearing brighter than his  
usual self.

Harry is mighty pleased to observe his petal when the latter is so full of life, void of burdens. He  
knows he could not make this issue better and no matter what caused the happiness, it made his  
heart flutter to see Louis like this.

"I feel like we should be celebrating, sweet petal." Harry drapes an arm over Louis' shoulders as  
Edward seeks out the warmth of the boy's lower waist. 

"We can." Louis supposes. "Celebrating has to include my dad. His doctor says he'll be in perfect  
health after a few gym sessions."

"Regardless, petal." Edward's lips meet Louis' temple. "I do not think he knows about us."  
"He doesn't." Louis sighs. "Not yet."

While this news relieves Edward, it doesn't do so with Harry. Edward is absolutely on-board for  
keeping their unique relationship a precious secret as nobody outside their current lives should  
know. Harry wanted everyone to know on the other hand. He needs anyone who could be a threat to  
acknowledge and respect their decision. How can people do so if they didn't know?

His traditional background stuck out like a sore thumb in that way. He wanted to have Mark's  
blessings and be allowed to share meals at dinner. Edward felt he was more realistic in wanting to  
keep everything a secret.

"Are you going to tell him?" Harry asks, opening the back-seat door for Louis.

"Maybe." Louis didn't think either brother would want to tell his father about them. What was the  
slim chance that he'd agree going to do when it hardly existed?

Edward smirked as he released his boy and walked around the front to the driver's seat.  
Harry hung back, holding Louis' door open with his hand over the open window and his intentions  
obvious. Louis has to smile as innocently as he can and wait for the man to speak first.

"Petal, you aren't ashamed of us?" Harry returns to his sweet and harmless composure once again.  
Louis hurries to turn in his seat so that he can reassure Harry, his mind deflating with severe worry.

"Oh Harry. No, of course not."

The answer makes Harry feel a flood of smooth coolness like those cubes of crystal ice he's been  
kept away from when his parched throat craved it. "Really, petal?"

"Yes. Yes, really." Louis swings his legs over the edge of the seat and reels Harry in between them,  
rekindling the man's confidence with a chaste peck to his lips. "I'd never be embarrassed by you  
two."

Harry's beam turns twice as bright as the sun and it warms Louis' heart up to stability. "Such an  
occasion ought to be celebrated with something as extravagant as frozen yogurt."

Louis' matching grin is just as flashy and heartwarming. Harry kisses his forehead once more before  
setting him back in his seat, and closing the door soundly. Turning around after kicking his shoes  
off, Louis crosses his legs and clips his seatbelt.

"Can we go to that frozen yogurt bar downtown, Edward?" He asks, leaning forward and setting his  
elbows on either twins' seats.

Edward cranks up the AC and activates central locking after Harry gets in. "If you so desire to go to  
the frozen bar downtown, petal."

Louis pouts because he doesn't have another response for the man who makes everything so formal  
and exquisite. He puts on his seatbelt and sidles up to the left-handside window, extracting his own  
phone from his pocket and unlocking it to reveal a few messages.

He answers Niall's messages and almost gets dragged into a conversation about his friend's visit to  
the zoo. However they've arrived at the frozen yogurt bar and he gets himself freed in time. Outside  
the weather is carrying a hot wind that makes Louis' skin itchy and prickle in the most  
uncomfortable way.

Later that day when they're all in the apartment with a stable temperature on the thermostat that kept  
the heat out and perfect view of cloudy skies in, Louis finds a spot on the couch in silence. He knew  
Harry was in the kitchen and Edward in the shower, so he figured this would be the best time.

He has to tell _someone_ about his plan to visit his father's office so he can retrieve the  
documents with his name on it. Those papers could give him his first full-time and officially paying  
job. He's excited about the prospect of having something to do everyday but that joy is dampened  
by what Harry said to him about Edward's leaning tendencies towards violent possessiveness.

"Harry?" He wakes up and brings his tall glass once of water to the visible twin.

"Yes, petal?" Harry opens the fridge and closes it after taking out a few bell peppers.

Louis rinses his cup and leans his back against the counter, blocking off the chopping board Harry  
was working with. "I have to go somewhere tomorrow and it could get me a great job if I play my  
cards right."

Harry's eyes leave the bell peppers to meet Louis'. He remains silent for a few beats, not even  
crinkling the packet in his hands when something brief flashes across his features. Louis almost  
thinks about retracting it when Harry does say something, still statuesque.

"Why are you-" Harry swallows and Louis watches the remarkable change in his pupils from  
dilated to narrowed then back again. "-telling me this, petal?"

Louis sees no harm and reaches across his chest to rub his arm with the other palm. "I don't know  
exactly."

"Okay." Harry brings one of his most charming smiles to the front of his features, deepening one of  
his dimples. "You'd like me to keep a secret, darlin'?"

"Maybe." Louis sighs heavily, scratching nothing on his arm. This felt like treachery to him.

Bending a little forward so that he's towering over Louis' form, his lips land on the boy's forehead.  
Louis releases his tension with that spot of affection, leaning into it and the man.

"I'll keep your secret, petal." Harry frees one hand to secure the side of Louis' face, thumbing at the  
slight bags beneath his eyes.

Louis giggles and let's himself relax into Harry's chest, feeling that strong heartbeat beneath his  
palm and nuzzling Harry's neck. He gets gripped tightly around his hips, kept safe from the sharp  
edge of the counter and pinned to Harry's hard torso.

"If you'll keep mine."

His giggles are abruptly cut short by a powerful hand covering his mouth and when the joke dies  
out, Louis' panic is ignited by the monster surfacing in Harry's eyes. He tries breaking free by  
grabbing Harry's wrist and tugging but he might as well be captured by pure titanium.  
Harry smothers few of his protests and causes Louis' body to jerk, skin twisting and muscles  
stretching, when he raises him with his arms. Louis can't get away from this when Harry nearly  
_throttles_ him with now beastly his hold is around his middle. Choking and tearing up from  
the internal pressure, Louis barely notices that they're moving.

Louis' unable to breathe properly by the time Harry stops walking and he's let go of. He doesn't  
tumble in a heap to the ground because Harry keeps him steady and upright, pressing him flush  
against the nearby wall of the guest bedroom.

"Harry." He speaks around the lump in his throat that _burns_. "What a-are you do-doing,  
_Harry_?"

There's no response up until a firm chest and abdomen knock the air out of him from behind. "My  
lies to you have been wasted. That angers me, petal."

"L-Lies?"

Louis can't think straight when he's being constricted like this, filling up on a feeling of grand fear.  
The kind that used to appear in the Madhouse before he _knew_ these men and Harry's  
behaviour is so frightening yet _confusing_.

"Shh." Harry rubs Louis' sides in failed attempt at being soothing. "My sweet petal, I will not hurt  
you."

Despite his position, Louis believes that because he thinks he should know even a little bit about  
Harry. That should be enough. He also _has_ to believe that he's eternally safe with Harry no  
matter the circumstance because the crippling dawn of something far more malevolent that will  
suck him down into a pit of misery is far worse.

Any amount of a threatening nature set upon him will have enough strength to push him under  
again, to the dark cage of his mind where he didn't escape easily before.

"You w-won't?" Louis is able to talk now that both hands of Harry's are on his hips.  
Harry's lips meet his earlobe and travel lower to his shoulder. "Do you think I will?"

Louis shakes his head, trying to convince himself. He gulps down the emotional ball in his throat  
and lowers his own hands to cover Harry's. This is the life he lives, the life he will always live and  
he needs to learn coping mechanisms above all else.

When his fingers graze over Harry's, the man tightens his grip on them and lines his body up with  
Louis'. He inhales deeply, heaving into Louis' neck like he can't breathe without the boy's support.  
As much as it scares Louis, he has to assert some form of himself in this situation. He reaches back  
with one hand and tugs Harry closer, groaning when the man latches onto his skin.

Harry likes this and it shows when he starts to knead Louis' soft hips, hypnotised by the tenderness  
and scent. He nibbles on Louis' neck and grinds his crotch into the plump perkiness of Louis'  
behind.

"You're not going tomorrow." Harry suddenly pulls away and says stiffly. "Understand, petal?"

"No." Louis grits, too annoyed to think rationally. "_No_. You can't do this to me, Harry. I'm  
not-"

"You're _mine!_" Harry raised his voice and cut Louis off, scaring the boy into nearly  
jumping.

He let's the rage settle with curled fists at his side, completely retracting from Louis' body against  
his and turning around to storm off. Louis knows he can't let that happen and chases after him. Just  
to keep Harry here, he jumps onto his back on impulse and wraps his arms around Harry's neck.

"Petal-" Harry sways in his step from imbalance and almost drops to his knees when he tries to get  
the boy down.

Without trying much he is able to get Louis down and pressed into a wall, his hands circled around  
the boy's biceps. He has his teeth revealed in a tight snarl, trying so consistently to keep the  
bubbling simmer of ghastly anger from erupting. It was the hardest battle of his life when all he  
wanted to do was give in, taste the divinity of blood spilt.

Harry stared into Louis' eyes, wide and so marvellously innocent while at the same time ready to  
tame whatever beast poured itself into his hands. He couldn't hurt a hair on his petal's head, not  
because his older brother will scatter his flesh for the crows if he did, but because he might never  
survive causing harm to Louis.

Whatever beast there was living in his veins, feeding on his active frustration as it festered, it wasn't  
half as powerful as any amount of contact with Louis.

"You know what that means already." Harry sounded something akin to helpless as he made himself  
curve over the short height of Louis. "Why do you challenge that?"

Louis didn't resist him and reached up to caress Harry's cheek. "I don't challenge anything, Harry."

"You do!" Harry shouted, his voice carrying to every part of the room.

Suddenly he couldn't stand Louis' hands on him and pushed them away, not feeling the regret he  
should be. He isn't allowed to leave like he wants to however, Louis throwing himself at him in a  
way that put him in danger. His legs encircled Harry's waist and his arms locked around the man's  
neck, his lips moving to speak in his ear.

"I love you." Is the first thing he wants to say and it works like a drug, subduing Harry into resting  
on a wall with Louis on him.

"S-Say more." Harry desperately reaches for the available part of Louis he can get, clutching the  
boy's posterior with both fervent hands and fingers digging into the flesh. "More, petal!"

"Hush." Louis trails his index down Harry's bobbing Adam's Apple, leaving that part of him laden  
with sweet kisses that extract the horror from the man slowly. "I'm never going anywhere. I'm going  
to remain yours forever."

Harry's head snaps up and his nose bumps into Louis'. "You won't go tomorrow?"

"I will but-"

_"Petal."_ Harry's chest rumbles with coarse and livid vibrations. He sets the boy down and  
connects their eyes, pinning two gazes with one amount of pain. "You aren't going tomorrow.  
Understand."

Louis spins around from his partially misdirected state, feeling hot and cold at the same time. "No,  
Harry. I don't understand."

A fist slams into the wall an inch from the side of his head but Louis doesn't flinch. Harry's  
smirking arrogantly when his face comes to be in such close proximity to Louis'.

"You can't decide things for me." Louis spits, now realising that Harry lied about _Edward_  
being the overbearing one.

It makes him clench his jaw and fire up his irritation within at the man. How dare he be so gullible?  
Harry put on such a show to convince Louis, to prove that he's just a victim.

"I do." Harry's fingers tangled themselves in Louis' hair and pulled on the chestnut locks to tilt his  
head back. "And you will always listen, petal."

Louis changes his approach. He let's Harry be as unforgiving as he wants with his hair, looking up  
into those nothing short of beautiful green eyes and speaking to the gold flecks of reason.

"Are you insecure about something?" He risks asking, both his hands clasped around Harry's neck.  
Harry's chest vibrates against Louis' when he growls, teeth snapping shut over the boy's pulse.  
"You are, aren't you?" Louis softens once Harry's arms get looser.

He can control his head to press their foreheads together and watch every trace of the storm that was  
born in Harry's eyes, spreading to his dark frown, turn to nothing. Harry was not the man to confess  
his feelings for things upon the first encouragement. He did things with ulterior motives and whilst  
most were harmless, Louis can't see himself forgiving this quickly.

"Why did you lie?" He presses stubbornly, ignoring it when Harry shakes his head and starts to turn  
around. "Don't walk away from me, Harry."

Harry paused to look at Louis blankly, waiting to watch Louis come closer. "You won't ever  
understand, petal."

"Try me." Louis tries harder to get information out of the man, bringing Harry's forearms to sit on  
his hips whilst holding onto them. 

Reluctantly, Harry found himself giving in when Louis was being so warm and tantalising. He  
succumbed to those round blue eyes with crinkles at the corners and allowed himself to swept away  
from reality with Louis' intoxicating touch.

"_Trust_ me." Louis rephrases his compassionate request, able to taste Harry's breaths on his  
lips.

Harry looks him dead in the eye with no emotion showing whatsoever, all the feelings possible  
leaking out with his words. "Almost _three decades_ without you and here I am chancing the  
fact that we've earned you in our lives."

"What does that mean, Harry?" Louis implores softly, green magnetised to blue. "Are you saying  
that you're afraid of me walking out that door?"

"Yes." Harry confesses bleakly. "I'm _afraid_, petal, that you'll leave and never come back."

"Is that why you did what you did?" Louis' fingertips tickle the artful curve of Harry's jaw. There is  
no man alive with a more exquisite facial structure.

Harry's nod is hesitant but punctual. He clears his throat as if about to say something but that never  
happens because Louis bounces up on his tiptoes and plants a chaste peck on the man's lips.

"Harry Styles." He dictates, voice stronger than his mellow wits. "You and your brother won't ever  
lose me."

  
* * * * *  


"Is dinner going to have any chance of being ready soon, brother?" Edward asked over the back of  
their couch in the living room.

Harry glared at him in a way that was harmless and went back to stirring whatever is in his stainless  
steel pot. Louis tried to be graceful and stealthy about fetching two Mountain Dew cans from the  
refrigerator but Harry smirked at him and killed his act.

"Hi." Louis put himself under Harry's arm, stretching up to the skies in order to kiss Harry's cheek.  
"Feeling better?"

There was an indiscreet squeeze to his waist which Harry delivered before planting a kiss on Louis'  
neck. The boy smiled and traced the bandaged scar on Harry's neck with his thin index finger,  
knowing the contours from his own mark.

"Abundantly." Harry only released Louis after he was guilt free once again. It took him well over an  
hour the first time.

Edward knew all about what went down earlier in the day but didn't spare the time to question them  
on it. The dark cloud was well over their heads now and he had Louis crawling on the couch to  
cuddle into his side. All was well in the universe from his vantage point.

Louis set his head on the crook of Edward's shoulder, the man's arm over and around his shoulders.  
He was safe to either turn into Edward's neck for complete darkness or watch the television where   
some old TV show was running. Choosing the former, Louis depicted his boredom of the television  
by nibbling faintly on Edward's mark-free neck.

"Can I help you?" Edward looked at him in amusement, letting Louis lock their fingers together.  
"This show is boring." Louis whispered in his ear though it was no secret.

"I concur, petal." Edward chuckled and located the remote to alternate channels, feeling warmer  
than ever with Louis creeping onto his lap subtly. "We both know what you hope to accomplish. I  
suggest you get on with it before I turn grey, petal."

Before his unhappy but playful pout, Louis giggled and slotted himself onto Edward's thighs,  
bringing his thin blanket with him. He fought no resistance when his lover caught his waist and held  
onto him while he settled, an arm thrown over the back of Edward's neck.

"I imagine you are comfortable now." Edward teased him after switching to some Ethan Hawke  
movie that was halfway through already.

Louis framed Edward's left cheek but kissed his right. He loved the scent of the man's aftershave  
and smoothness of his jaw, able to run his lips across it in admiration. His fingers tightened in  
Edward's shirt and he folded his legs across Edward's lap, fitting his feet in between the man's legs.  
Edward grew tired of Louis' ministrations when they were all so indecent but leading nowhere. He  
grabbed the boy by his wrists and flattened him on his back, crawling over him on the sofa to hover  
over him with an immensely smug grin. Louis struggled only a little but willingly went with the  
flow when Edward plastered their lips together.

Kicking his legs free of the blanket, Louis made sure to eliminate all space between them when he  
tugged Edward down to him. He opened his mouth for their kiss and let Edward groan into it, filling  
his mind and senses with traces of him.

"That's what you get when you simply don't sit still, petal." Edward told him, biting down on Louis'  
earlobe to hear him whimper.

Louis huffed petulantly and let his hands become paralysed by Edward's covering them. He turns  
his head to the side, watching flashing imagery of a car getaway while Edward presses firm kisses  
along his collarbone.

Edward was getting carried away and it was easy to see. He continues his river of tormenting kisses  
down to the sweet skin below Louis' shirt, raising it to be just below the boy's arms in order to carry  
on. His hands were large enough to hold onto Louis' sides and dig his thumbs into the boy's nipples,  
making him jerk and mewl loudly.

"What- What are you doing?" Louis asked breathlessly, reaching lower to grip Edward's silky hair  
with a bitten lip.

"Don't worry." Edward could predict that Louis was in a hot and bothered state, but went no further  
than the boy's hipbones with his mouth leaving wet tracks. "I'll stop here, baby."

Louis was close to protesting about that defiance but remained strong and let Edward do as he  
pleased. He buried his face in Louis' tummy and hummed contentedly, able to change the angle of  
his head so he can watch the television with his boy as a pillow. Louis never minded when either of   
the twins did this, and draped the quilt he had over them both sufficiently although his front  
remained almost completely bare.

"I should not sit still more often." He commented jovially, listening to Edward's slight chuckle.

"I would not test me, petal." Edward kneaded Louis' thighs that were on either side of him.

"I wouldn't either, Daddy." Louis promised, winking when Edward raised his gaze to him.

Harry only cared to join them after having prepared enough plates of food. He stood at the counter  
to ask first. "Will that be one or two plates for the both of you?"

"Um-" Louis raised his brow at Edward who shrugged. "One."

Harry plated one more before taking it over to the couch. He sat down by Louis' head and became  
his alternate method of cradling his head. Louis sat up as much as was needed with his behind  
planted on Harry's lap and Edward keeping charge of his legs.

Louis takes a moment to gain admiration and adoration for their situation. When would he have  
ever guessed that they'd be here with their own little alcove in this world under constant rain and  
enough resources to forever survive together? For such a maddening bond to exist between them  
that virtually nothing could ruin it?

He tries being sly when nudging his way under Harry's chin, protected by the man's arms around  
him as he scraped his plate with his cutlery. Harry was the fastest eater and set his dishes down on  
the coffee table to tighten the band of his arms around Louis' lower waist, forming a shielding cage.

"It seems like we've been here before." Louis cheekily remarks when slipping a forkful of food into  
Edward's mouth.

Edward smirked as he chewed, squeezing Louis' pale ankles with both hands around them both. "I  
can recall that memory too, petal."

It was less more than half a year ago when they'd escaped to a bigger town than their home state  
and Louis got his first tattoo. Those times were harder and more strenuous on them all. The entire  
universe might as well have been beating down on their shoulders hatefully, daring to pick  
themselves up so they can be dragged down again.

"I like where we are now." Louis tacks on a kiss for the tip of Edward's nose when he serves the last  
bite.

Returning the kiss as quickly as he can, Edward presses his spicy lips to Louis' and smiles. "As do I,  
petal. I love you."

"I love you." Louis replies instantly, tasting remnants of Harry's delicious food on Edward's lips.

He wiggles on the chef's lap until he's stable and astride him, hooking both arms over the man's  
shoulders and blocking off the distracting television. Harry aids him as far as that, holding onto  
Louis' hips with both reverent hands and chuckling whenever the boy purposely ground his lower  
half into his lap. 

"Pay attention to me." Louis spoke softly in his ear, releasing warm puffs of air half as seductive as  
his words.

Harry brings Louis closer and creates a nearly impenetrable hold. He turns his face into Louis' neck  
and nips at his earlobe. "I'll be wherever you are, petal, whenever you need me."

Louis' skin is freshly bathed and smelling of the right amount of citrus. Harry's tongue flicked along  
the boy's hollow collarbone before he nuzzled the same spot, releasing any tension from within him.  
Edward leaned over and caught Louis' lips in a loving kiss that neither parted from for many  
seconds, leaving their lungs empty and hurting.

"I love you too." Louis playfully tugged on Harry's ears with his hands and giggled when Harry  
rolled his eyes.

"Petal." Edward takes Louis' hand between both of his when they're all comfortable again.

"Hmm?" Louis is drowsily resting under Harry's chin against his chest, facing the TV but seeing  
nothing.

"My brother told me you've got plans to acquire a job."

Louis turns his head so his cheek rests on Harry's pectoral, looking at Edward with a bitten lip. He  
can derive nothing from the man's expression alone as he's impassive with the appropriate response  
lingering being two dark green curtains.

"Yeah." Louis feels Harry's hands slide across his front, settling on opposite hips.

Edward waits patiently for him to go on, not pressuring Louis in anyway. He knows how deeply  
Louis wants a job as somewhere to go everyday and earn a salary.

"I have to get a few things from my dad's office and make a couple of calls." Louis explains  
carefully, softly releasing a breath of relief when Edward's smile is genuine.

Lips touch his forehead and he smiles. "Of course, darlin'. I am happy with anything that pleases  
you."

With no further doubts in his mind, Louis can go back to his previous occupation. Harry's fingers  
slip underneath Louis' shirt and continually graze his bare skin either as comfort for himself or his  
victim. Louis finds his eyelids becoming heavier and he eventually droops as a whole, falling asleep  
when Sylvester Stallone bombs a skyscraper.

"Lower the volume." Harry tells Edward who has the remote, covering Louis more securely with  
his favourite faded quilt.

"Is he asleep?" Edward asks, freeing Louis' feet from under the sheet because he knows how fussy  
their petal becomes when he's feeling too hot.

"Yes." Harry winds his arm around Louis' front and lays him down in a more comfortable sleeping  
position. 

Louis' automatic reflex is to turn on his side and curl up into a tight ball when in slumber. Harry  
allows him that space allocation on his lap, folding the quilt up away from Louis' bare feet. Edward  
has muted the television so all they get is flashing imagery.

"Petal told you about his job first?" Edward asks, rolling the remote in his hand over his fingers.  
"Yeah." Harry didn't look up.

Edward sighed and said nothing for a short moment. "Did you hurt him?"

"I'd never, Edward." Harry said in disbelief, eyes wide once again but this time because he's  
offended. "You know that."

"You have to let him do this." Edward told his younger twin without regard for Harry's defense, his  
earnest appeal bleeding into the green of his eyes. He touches Harry's cheek with the backs of his  
fingers and firmly takes ahold of his cheek. "Yes?"

"Yes." Harry disliked the harshness of Edward's grip on his face but didn't fight it, as he knew  
better. "Yes, I will."

Edward's mouth twitched in the strings of a smile. "Good."

**Author's Note:**

> the end of chapter one of impulse by ss98


End file.
